I've served as continuing ed coordinator for a couple of years for our
local affiliate, and I must tell you our experience with babies at
conferences.
Two years ago Kathleen A graced our conference and spoke to over 150
interested women. Evaluations of the conference complained about baby
noise -- and I can tell you, there was very little of it.
I was not surprised, as I've attended ICEA and ASPO functions and the
lack of babies made me very, very upset. In fact, when I attended the
required seminar for ASPO certification, the registration materials
included "No Babies Allowed" (altho I don't remember the exact words).
Well, being one of those fanatic LLL people, I brought eight month old
Michael with a sitter. I figured if they said anything, I would just
innocently declare, "Well, since ASPO supports breastfeeding, I knew you
weren't talking about breastfed babies."
(Hmmm...looks like I was using the don't ask method....)
One participant weaned her three month old to come to this seminar. It
made me sick. Another participant brought her three month old, who
stayed in her arms the entire weekend.
Anyhow, we decided at our (Jack Newman) conference this spring that VLCA
would speak out on this issue. And what we said was: We want to change
this culture. We want to go on record saying that this is a professional
conference, and we who work as breastfeeding professionals say that
having your breastfeeding baby with you at work is a good thing if that
is what you would like to do.
"...And if the baby noise bothers you, please come to me between
sessions and talk to me about it, and we'll make sure your concerns are
addressed." (And praise God there were no complaints because I do not
know what I would have said to any poor soul who had the balls to complain.)
My favorite part of reading the evaluations this year was this
comment: "Thank you for your statement welcoming breastfeeding babies.
I had no problem with baby noise but there were some pretty rude adults
in the back rows!"
Meanwhile, Jay, do let that anger subside a bit so the righteousness
can come through. There's plenty of righteousness in that anger! And
it's an issue worth addressing. ---Dawn, Righteous Green Mtn Mama
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