I posted a couple weeks ago about my plan to take my nursling with me to a CME conference and though I'd post a follow up. Baby Caroline attended the AAFP's Family Centered Maternity Care Conference with me last week. She was an angel, mostly sleeping or nursing the whole day. She spent some time also happily making faces at other conference attendees. Two days of the conference, my friend brought along her five month old baby as well, and we sat in the back together. Her baby was a little busier than mine, but both were remarkably well-behaved. The first day, they were the only 2 babies visible, but the next couple of days several other moms brought their babies along, too. (And every baby I saw was nursing!) I think seeing Caroline contentedly attending gave several other moms courage to try bringing baby along at least some of the time. All of the course intstructors were very gracious and many commented on how nice it was to have a baby along! I think having the baby with me made it easier to concentrate, especially since I have a bad habit of dozing off in the afternoons, which I was unable to do with my babe in arms! The conference focused on obstetric care, and I was pleased that many instructors mentioned the effects on breastfeeding of different interventions and hospital practices. There was only 1 session actually devoted to breastfeeding, though, and it was so-so. At this session, during a small group discussion, I was saddened to see how little many of my colleagues knew about managing breastfeeding problems, but encouraged that many of them wanted to learn. I am going to e-mail the instructor of the breastfeeding session, though, and see if I can encourage her to change her language -- there was much emphasis on the "benefits of breastfeeding" and no recognition of the breastfeeding as the norm. (And one unfortunate comment that babies should nurse for no more than 15-20 minutes per side because after that "it's just a pacifier.") I was glad I chose to bring her along, and we both enjoyed several days of constant contact after I had been back to work for a week and a half. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine this fall, and bring her along as well! Jennifer Tieman Family Physician Mom to 4, including nursling Caroline Rose born 5/31/03 *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html