I am a software developer; everyone else in my office does similarly taxing mental work. My immediate superior brought her infant child to our office today. Despite the fact that the baby was only there for an hour, I found this to be extremely distracting. The baby would cry or make other loud noises at random, as babies tend to do.

No one else around me seemed to have a problem with the baby being there, and some were happy to take a break from their work and talk to the child (who is currently incapable of talking back). After a little while, another employee watched the baby while my boss had a couple brief meetings, and this person tried to bring the baby to see me while I was working, which was a further distraction. I had things to do that were due the next day.

I tend to dislike children, so it's possible I'm overreacting. I generally trust my boss (the mother), and I know she would only have brought the baby to work if the usual channels of taking care of her were unavailable.

In general, under what conditions is it professional/unprofessional to bring an infant to work?

In addition, if someone does this and it distracts me from work, should I try to ignore it, or should I ask for a way to remove the distraction?

If this is a duplicate, let me know. It's related to What benefits are there of being allowed to take your kids to work? [closed], but hopefully it meets the question guidelines better. The title of How to act when coworker brings an infant to visit the office? is similar, but that one is about social interactions, while I'm asking about professionalism.

EDIT: Many have pointed out that it only happened once for an hour, and because of that I am probably overreacting. I'll buy that. A lot of things are lax at this office; they're not going to fault me for being less productive for an hour.

However, I disagree with the comments that the baby is not the most distracting thing that has happened, at least in this particular office. It tends to be quiet (yes, you could say I was spoiled on that), and I've heard it claimed that the crying of an infant is one of the most difficult sounds for humans to ignore. (I've sometimes heard it claimed that it's more difficult for women to ignore than men, and I am a woman.) It was also only a few feet from me, and I do not have a laptop or other means of relocating my work.

I am a software developer; everyone else in my office does similarly taxing mental work. My immediate superior brought her infant child to our office today. Despite the fact that the baby was only there for an hour, I found this to be extremely distracting. The baby would cry or make other loud noises at random, as babies tend to do.

No one else around me seemed to have a problem with the baby being there, and some were happy to take a break from their work and talk to the child (who is currently incapable of talking back). After a little while, another employee watched the baby while my boss had a couple brief meetings, and this person tried to bring the baby to see me while I was working, which was a further distraction. I had things to do that were due the next day.

I tend to dislike children, so it's possible I'm overreacting. I generally trust my boss (the mother), and I know she would only have brought the baby to work if the usual channels of taking care of her were unavailable.

In general, under what conditions is it professional/unprofessional to bring an infant to work?

In addition, if someone does this and it distracts me from work, should I try to ignore it, or should I ask for a way to remove the distraction?

If this is a duplicate, let me know. It's related to What benefits are there of being allowed to take your kids to work? [closed], but hopefully it meets the question guidelines better. The title of How to act when coworker brings an infant to visit the office? is similar, but that one is about social interactions, while I'm asking about professionalism.

EDIT: Many have pointed out that it only happened once for an hour, and because of that I am probably overreacting. I'll buy that. A lot of things are lax at this office; they're not going to fault me for being less productive for an hour.

However, I disagree with the comments that the baby is not the most distracting thing that has happened, at least in this particular office. It tends to be quiet (yes, you could say I was spoiled on that), and I've heard it claimed that the crying of an infant is one of the most difficult sounds for humans to ignore. (I've sometimes heard it claimed that it's more difficult for women to ignore than men, and I am a woman.) It was also only a few feet from me, and I do not have a laptop or other means of relocating my work.

I am a software developer; everyone else in my office does similarly taxing mental work. My immediate superior brought her infant child to our office today. Despite the fact that the baby was only there for an hour, I found this to be extremely distracting. The baby would cry or make other loud noises at random, as babies tend to do.

No one else around me seemed to have a problem with the baby being there, and some were happy to take a break from their work and talk to the child (who is currently incapable of talking back). After a little while, another employee watched the baby while my boss had a couple brief meetings, and this person tried to bring the baby to see me while I was working, which was a further distraction. I had things to do that were due the next day.

I tend to dislike children, so it's possible I'm overreacting. I generally trust my boss (the mother), and I know she would only have brought the baby to work if the usual channels of taking care of her were unavailable.

In general, under what conditions is it professional/unprofessional to bring an infant to work?

In addition, if someone does this and it distracts me from work, should I try to ignore it, or should I ask for a way to remove the distraction?

If this is a duplicate, let me know. It's related to What benefits are there of being allowed to take your kids to work? [closed], but hopefully it meets the question guidelines better. The title of How to act when coworker brings an infant to visit the office? is similar, but that one is about social interactions, while I'm asking about professionalism.

I am a software developer; everyone else in my office does similarly taxing mental work. My immediate superior brought her infant child to our office today. Despite the fact that the baby was only there for an hour, I found this to be extremely distracting. The baby would cry or make other loud noises at random, as babies tend to do.

No one else around me seemed to have a problem with the baby being there, and some were happy to take a break from their work and talk to the child (who is currently incapable of talking back). After a little while, another employee watched the baby while my boss had a couple brief meetings, and this person tried to bring the baby to see me while I was working, which was a further distraction. I had things to do that were due the next day.

I tend to dislike children, so it's possible I'm overreacting. I generally trust my boss (the mother), and I know she would only have brought the baby to work if the usual channels of taking care of her were unavailable.

In general, under what conditions is it professional/unprofessional to bring an infant to work?

In addition, if someone does this and it distracts me from work, should I try to ignore it, or should I ask for a way to remove the distraction?

If this is a duplicate, let me know. It's related to What benefits are there of being allowed to take your kids to work? [closed], but hopefully it meets the question guidelines better. The title of How to act when coworker brings an infant to visit the office? is similar, but that one is about social interactions, while I'm asking about professionalism.

EDIT: Many have pointed out that it only happened once for an hour, and because of that I am probably overreacting. I'll buy that. A lot of things are lax at this office; they're not going to fault me for being less productive for an hour.

However, I disagree with the comments that the baby is not the most distracting thing that has happened, at least in this particular office. It tends to be quiet (yes, you could say I was spoiled on that), and I've heard it claimed that the crying of an infant is one of the most difficult sounds for humans to ignore. (I've sometimes heard it claimed that it's more difficult for women to ignore than men, and I am a woman.) It was also only a few feet from me, and I do not have a laptop or other means of relocating my work.