Milk at the mall

At the Dunedin Big Latch On in the Meridian mall yesterday (from left) Millie (4), Pippa and Ivy (8 months) Sluis, Katie and Fletcher (9 months) Jones, Annabelle (3), Karen and Harriet (8 months) Cope, all of Dunedin.

The Breast Room volunteer Dr Kari Clifford said 20 mothers breast-fed their children at the Dunedin Big Latch On at Meridian mall yesterday.

The event was designed to support breast-feeding women and to ‘‘ease the anxiety’’ of new mums, she said.

"First-time mums haven’t exposed themselves to [breast-feeding in public] and its a new situation and a lot of them are quite shy."

Well South health promotion specialist Brittani Beavis said the event in the mall — put on by the Dunedin Breastfeeding Network — was "really, really cool".

Similar events were held across the South yesterday, including in Balclutha, Invercargill, Oamaru, and Queenstown, Miss Beavis said.