Hi fellow netters, Decided that I would throw my 3 cents worth in. Our affiliate dealt with this very difficult problem about 18 months ago. We try to have very interesting speakers who often cover involved material (like milk making at the cellular level). Some of our babies were aging into the loud stage and some mothers did not seem to hear their children's very loud bids for attention (or the toddlers were quiet but walked all over the place, distracting the speaker and listeners alike.) Below is the policy that we adopted after much discussion. It was voted on by our membership. OLCA Disturbance Policy OLCA is a professional association for lactation consultants. Our policy is to protect, promote and support breastfeeding; this includes our members and guests who breastfeed their babies. OLCA meetings are geared to professionals. OLCA's policy and mission is to likewise protect, promote and support professional lactation education. We feel these goals are compatible. Disburbances are incompatible with the learning environment whether caused by loud or unhappy babies or discourteous adults. We therefore announce the following policies for OLCA meetings and educational events: 1. Breastfeeding babies are welcome. 2. Disturbances are NOT welcome. 3. Mothers who bring babies are requested to be seated in the spaces provided at the back of the room, near the exit and are requested to take their babies out of the room if they become noisy or restless. 4. Adults are requested to refrain from side conversations. 5. There will be sufficient breaks to allow for personal comfort. 6. Mothers should take the needs of their child into consideration when determining whether to bring the child to the educational portion of the meeting. 7. Most sessions are taped and available for loan from the OLCA library. Adopted on Jan. 22, 1994. Queen former president of the Ohio Lactation Consultant Association, an organization of nearly 150 highly opinionated, voiciferous intelligent articulate women who are not afraid to take the bull by the horns and neuter it.