A mother was shocked when staff at an Asda superstore asked her not to breastfeed her baby in public.

Julie Stokes, 36, said the store should be supporting mothers who breastfed rather than discouraging them.

She said: "You should be able to breastfeed anywhere and you shouldn't be told to stop.

"If something like that happened to a young mum it might put her off breastfeeding altogether."

Mrs Stokes's eight-month-old son Jacob was hungry and started crying while they were shopping in the Brighton Hollingbury store on Sunday.

Mrs Stokes, of Shelldale Road, Portslade, said she asked if she could feed him in the optician's section, which had plenty of free chairs and was not busy.

A member of staff agreed but when she realised Mrs Stokes was breastfeeding she rushed back over.

Mrs Stokes said: "She said, 'You can't do that here'."

The woman thought she had meant bottle-feeding and said staff did not like her breastfeeding.

The worker directed Mrs Stokes to the baby-changing area where there was a space dedicated for feeding.

But Mrs Stokes said the cubicle was completely unsuitable, with a high swivel chair wedged between two nappy bins.

She came back out and explained she did not want to feed the baby there and was eventually allowed to finish the feed in the opticians.

She said customer services staff at the store did not seem to understand why it was a problem when she complained about her treatment.

Mrs Stokes has since received an apology from Asda's national customer services but believes there should be more publicity about mothers' rights to breastfeed in public.

She said the store should either have a proper space for breastfeeding or should allow mothers to feed in public.

She said: "Ironically, Asda is raising money for breast cancer and breastfeeding is one of the preventative measures against the disease."

A spokesman for Asda said the store usually had a relaxed approach to breastfeeding.

He said: "If customers are comfortable breastfeeding in public so are we - however we also have facilities mothers can use if they wish.

"It sounds like the customer used our baby-changing facility in the store.

"We've taken on board her comments and we're going to put things right.

"In the coming months we will be giving all our customer facilities a new lease of life to make them more comfortable."