The National Gallery (London) has admitted it was wrong to prevent a mother from breastfeeding her 11-month-old daughter in a viewing room.

An attendant told Catherine Gulati, 33, from Solihull, West Midlands, to stop and use a mother-and-baby room if she wished to continue feeding.

The National Childbirth Trust called the gallery's behaviour "outrageous".

The gallery said a mistake had been made and breastfeeding is permitted "anywhere in the gallery".

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said: "The National Gallery's behaviour is as dated as many of the paintings that hang from their walls.

"We want to make breastfeeding as unremarkable as reading a newspaper so that more women are able to follow their instincts and breastfeed wherever and whenever their baby needs to be fed."

<Milky Way>

Mrs Gulati did note that many pictures on display in the gallery feature bare breasts and babies.

She singled out Tintoretto's The Origin of the Milky Way as an example of such artwork at the London venue.

"I thought it was ironic because in another room there was a picture of a bare breast with milk squirting out of it called the Milky Way," Mrs Gulati told the Evening Standard.

In a statement the venue said: "The National Gallery has been committed to the access of families ever since it opened.

"Our policy is that breastfeeding is permitted in the gallery."