HYDERABAD: Notwithstanding this year's World Breastfeeding Week focusing on working mothers, a pan India online survey with 2,200 stay-at-home and working mothers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad had 72 percent of them complaining they find it 'difficult' to breastfeed their infants when they are in public spaces like airports, metros, local trains, malls, bus and railway stations.

The month-long survey conducted by conducted by Medela, a USA-based company providing breastfeeding solutions, had a sizeable sample size from Hyderabad including those enjoying their motherhood for the first time. A majority of them singled out absence of the right environment in city's crowded public places for breastfeeding. While the survey results did not list out the reasons, city experts said that it was due to absence of enclosures or baby rooms for lactating mothers in such places. "Breastfeeding is a necessity but society should learn to respect lactacting mothers' need to feed their infants by creating secure enclosures in public places to provide them privacy," said Sujata Stephen, health activist and nutritionist at Maxcure Hospital.

While hailing a similar move initiated by the Tamil Nadu government early this week involving setting up of exclusive feeding rooms for lactating mothers across several bus terminals, she said that local administration can take a cue from that.