‘Hesitant’ Brit mums urge celebs to breastfeed in public

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - In a new-twist to the traditional two-parent family, two married lesbian women in Britain are all set to become mums to babies they both have conceived from a same straight male friend. Emma Flanagan and Laura longed for kids after their marriage on Sept 2, 2006, and found a unique solution to have their own family.

September 21st, 2009 MELBOURNE - Queensland's mums are presently involved in a fashion war that takes place at school gates. The sides are apparently divided into "slummy mummys" who wear pyjamas and tracksuit pants, and the "yummy mummys" with heavy style quotient wearing designer denim and expensive sunglasses.

September 11th, 2009 MELBOURNE - The New South Wales Police boss, who forced a breastfeeding mum to work overtime for every minute she spent expressing milk, has been reported to be a woman. The revelation came as Women's Minister Verity Firth told all public service agencies to review practices to ensure they were providing support to breastfeeding mums.

September 6th, 2009 LONDON - Are you feeling powerless as a parent? Then, here's some food for thought: a new research has claimed that a mother's beliefs even before her baby is born predict how well her infant will sleep at night later. According to researchers in Israel, if an expectant mum thinks that babies who cry at night are suffering distress and need comforting and soothing back to sleep, then her newborn is likely to wake more frequently during the night than if she believes babies should learn to settle themselves.

August 31st, 2009 MELBOURNE - A new poll conducted has shown that up to a third of Australians believe that mothers should not breastfeed their babies in public. The Newspoll survey also showed that another third think a baby should stop breastfeeding within six months, despite 65 per cent of people saying that breastfed babies had a better chance of surviving beyond a year old.

July 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Younger siblings' suspicions have been confirmed: Parents, especially mothers, favour their 'precious first borns' (PFBs) over the children they have later, concludes a new study. Among examples of attention lavished on the PFBs, mothers admit to rubbing shampoo into their own eyes to test it doesn't sting, pulling prams backwards for miles to avoid direct sunlight and even sterilising the steriliser, reports The Telegraph.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - Two in three UK mothers hesitate to breastfeed their kids whether inside or outside over fears of attracting the opprobrium of people, says a new survey. A large number of women believe UK is "not breastfeeding-friendly".

June 30th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Guilt-ridden working mothers can chill - a new study claims, while breastfed babies are held more and read to more, they sleep 40 minutes a day less and cry five minutes a day more than bottle-fed babies. The Australian Institute of Family Studies research revealed that full-time working mums spend on average 83 minutes less per day with their baby than stay-at-home mums, but the baby's father and grandparents make up for the lost mother time, reports The Daily Telegraph.

May 19th, 2009 LONDON - A mother was told to stop breastfeeding her baby boy by a swimming pool in Nottingham as it breached a leisure centre's strict poolside ban on food and drink. Laura Whotton was left fuming when a member of staff said she could not feed 11-week-old Joshua by the pool at John Carroll Leisure Centre.

April 19th, 2009 LONDON - The ongoing recession has taken toll on Brit mothers who are sacrificing their lavish lifestyles to feed their kids. An Asda poll of 1,000 mothers has found that a staggering 77 percent are struggling to put meals on the table.

April 2nd, 2009 LONDON - A Brit woman has designed a special 'shawl' that turns into a baby hammock to protect mums' modesty while breast-feeding in public. Mother-of-one Keira O'Mara, from Birmingham, has developed the Mamascarf, which completely covers the upper half of the body.

March 25th, 2009 LONDON - Brit MP Nigel Griffiths, who had cheated on his wife by romping in the Commons on Remembrance Day, will be facing a probe by Westminster's watchdog. Emails complaining about the Edinburgh South MP's conduct have been received by Standards Commissioner John Lyon's office, reports The Sun.

March 17th, 2009 LONDON - 'Busy' British parents are finding it difficult to pass on simple recipes, says a new research, which found that three-quarters of mums do not give their children regular cooking lessons. On the behalf of the Potato Council, 2,039 people were interviewed and it was found that one-fifth of mothers said they rarely or never taught their children to cook.

March 16th, 2009 LONDON - British mums do more than 32,000 pounds of household work every year, according to a new survey. Commissioned by insurers Legal and General, the survey showed that household chores like childcare, cleaning, and cooking would cost an average of 32,812 pounds, if families had to pay outsiders to do them.

January 20th, 2009 LONDON - New British singing sensation Leona Lewis has been snubbed by the Brit Awards. 'It's a complete travesty, Lewis has been overlooked in her own country.