A hotel in Malacca has apologised for initially refusing a mother's request to freeze a few bottles of breast milk on grounds that it was not halal.

According to China Press, the hotel manager contacted the mother after she had related the incident to an online forum for mothers.

The affected mother said that the manager had promised to reprimand the relevant staff members, but she said that this it was better to educate than to discipline them.

The report said the mother's ordeal began when her request to the hotel was turned down by two of its employees, one of which who told her that "non-halal" items were prohibited from the kitchen fridge.

This staff said that the breast milk can be kept in the VIP room, but it was occupied at the time.

"I told them that breast milk comes from human body and not from non-halal animals. It has nothing to do with being 'halal' or not," she told the Chinese daily.

The woman said the hotel only accommodated her request the following day, when the VIP room was vacated.

This was the first time the woman, who travels often as part of her work, had faced a such problem with a hotel, according to the report.