When Japanese politician Yuka Ogata brought her seven-month-old baby to a city assembly session, she was hoping to highlight the challenges facing women juggling families with careers.

Ms Ogata appears to have achieved her goal of demonstrating just how difficult it is: assembly officials have now issued her with a written warning for obstructing the flow of the session and she has reportedly apologised.

It was last week that Ms Ogata, 42, turned heads and captured the attention of global media when she took a seat in Kumamoto city assembly hall in southern Japan with her baby son in her arms.

Ms Ogata, who also has a four-year-old daughter, was immediately confronted by several senior male colleagues before she briefly left to take the baby to a friend and then returned to the session, which began around 40 minutes behind schedule.

The politician later revealed that she had repeatedly asked the assembly - equivalent to a local council - office whether she could bring her baby to work since becoming pregnant the previous year, but had failed to receive a positive reply.