diff --git a/gtsam/inference/BayesNet.h b/gtsam/inference/BayesNet.h
index d562f3ae6..4704d2873 100644
--- a/gtsam/inference/BayesNet.h
+++ b/gtsam/inference/BayesNet.h
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ class BayesNet : public FactorGraph<CONDITIONAL> {
   BayesNet(ITERATOR firstConditional, ITERATOR lastConditional)
       : Base(firstConditional, lastConditional) {}
 
+  /**
+   * Constructor that takes an initializer list of shared pointers.
+   *  BayesNet<SymbolicConditional> bn = {make_shared<SymbolicConditional>(), ...};
+   */
+  BayesNet(std::initializer_list<sharedConditional> conditionals): Base(conditionals) {}
+
   /// @}
 
  public:
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/GaussianBayesNet.h b/gtsam/linear/GaussianBayesNet.h
index a63cfa6c7..62366b602 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/GaussianBayesNet.h
+++ b/gtsam/linear/GaussianBayesNet.h
@@ -71,10 +71,8 @@ namespace gtsam {
      */
     template <class DERIVEDCONDITIONAL>
     GaussianBayesNet(
-        std::initializer_list<boost::shared_ptr<DERIVEDCONDITIONAL> >
-            sharedConditionals) {
-      for (auto&& gc : sharedConditionals) push_back(gc);
-    }
+        std::initializer_list<boost::shared_ptr<DERIVEDCONDITIONAL> > conditionals)
+        : Base(conditionals) {}
 
     /// Destructor
     virtual ~GaussianBayesNet() = default;
diff --git a/gtsam/symbolic/SymbolicBayesNet.h b/gtsam/symbolic/SymbolicBayesNet.h
index 643feee3f..ef1505108 100644
--- a/gtsam/symbolic/SymbolicBayesNet.h
+++ b/gtsam/symbolic/SymbolicBayesNet.h
@@ -62,10 +62,10 @@ namespace gtsam {
 
     /**
      * Constructor that takes an initializer list of shared pointers.
-     *  FactorGraph fg = {make_shared<MyFactor>(), ...};
+     *  SymbolicBayesNet bn = {make_shared<SymbolicConditional>(), ...};
      */
-    SymbolicBayesNet(std::initializer_list<boost::shared_ptr<SymbolicConditional>> sharedFactors)
-        : Base() {}
+    SymbolicBayesNet(std::initializer_list<boost::shared_ptr<SymbolicConditional>> conditionals)
+        : Base(conditionals) {}
 
     /// Construct from a single conditional
     SymbolicBayesNet(SymbolicConditional&& c) {