This photo of a woman breast-feeding her child was posted online by the Weibo account of bjtale.com. (Photo/Sina Weibo)
(ECNS) -- A new guideline that requires Beijing subway stations to provide public facilities for breast-feeding mothers will seek public opinion from Friday, Beijing-based The Mirror reports.
Lactation rooms will be set up at subway stations with heavy traffic, the guideline said, while other stations will add service facilities for breast-feeding in bathrooms.
It also demanded that a lactation room should have automatic sliding doors, chairs and a flat table for changing diapers. Outside, display devices to show it is occupied and video monitoring devices connected to the station control room should be added, according to the guideline.
China still lacks public facilities for mothers to nurse their infants, in spite of flash mobs held in some Chinese cities to draw attention to breast-feeding.
A non-governmental organization posted a micro blog criticizing a young mother for breast-feeding her baby on the subway in Beijing days before, provoking a storm of anger.
If the organization wants to hide such scenes, the key issue is how to improve public facilities at Beijing's subway stations so that young mothers have somewhere to feed their babies, China Daily wrote.
