By Wang Yanlin

    BEIJING, June 19 -- Breast-feeding is widely encouraged in the interests of baby's health.

    But what if a nursing mother lifts her shirt and bares her breasts discreetly in public to feed her baby?

    In a new anti-discrimination bill announced last Tuesday, the United Kingdom projected a clear supportive attitude.

    The bill defined it a right for women to breast-feed babies wherever they like. Restaurants, cafes and shops which tried to ban them would face court action and fines of up to 2,500 pounds (US$4,900).

    It is a demonstration of the legitimacy of the act.

    Any mother who turns a blind eye to her hungry newly born baby, who might be crying loudly and struggling painfully, just because it embarrasses her to undress in front of strangers, could legitimately be called cold-hearted.

    In some countries, breast-feeding in public has never been a problem.

    On the Website www.007b.com collecting people's opinions, Adelaide from Zimbabwe in Africa says it is the norm in her country to breast-feed in public.

    "In fact, if your baby is crying and you don't give him or her the breast, you are frowned or told off by people."

    Adelaide now lives in the UK and she said during her ten-year stay there she only came across women feeding in toilets, never in public.

    It is true some parts of the world used to, and may still, wrongly consider it indecent to breast-feed in public.

    Vivian Lin, a mother from Taiwan Province, had an unpleasant experience in this respect. Once in a shopping mall, Lin's baby was crying because of hunger. Lin did not have time to find a "proper" place to feed him and decided to breast-feed in public.

    Then a female worker came to her and asked her to leave, or moved to the restroom.

    "I was so upset about it. She said it was shame I did not use any cloth to cover it and people could see my breast so easily," said Lin.

    The diverging attitudes derive, to a large extent, from cultural differences.

    Asian people are usually more reserved.

    In many Chinese people's mind, it is indecent to expose cleavage to strangers, not to say a whole breast. And Asian people can be more sensitive to strangers' looks.

    "After all, a breast is considered a sex organ. Many people generally won't miss a chance to look at a bare breast," said Kabita from India. Sometimes, such looks come out of pure curiosity.

    But if it's a man, or simply a stranger who is looking, it can make a mother too uncomfortable to continue to breast-feed.

    In other cases, people may feel embarrassed to sit beside a nursing mother. Thus even if most people around the world reach a consensus to support breast-feeding in public, many mothers will still hesitate to do so.

    The UK bill guarantees its legitimacy. But further, mothers need privacy to protect themselves from the possible disturbance of dirty looks or to avoid creating any disturbance for others.

    Japan sets a good example.

    The country, despite having a relatively low breast-feeding rate, set up separate rooms in many big department stores for nursing mothers.

    They can breast-feed their babies there, without worrying about any peeping Toms.

    China is also stepping up the efforts.

    In Shanghai, the government is planning to install nursing rooms in newly built traffic hubs, hospitals, big stores, parks and hotels.

    A nursing room is better than a public place for breast-feeding. But when there is none, women should have the right to breast-feed.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)