ABOUT 50 women are expected to attend a "nurse-in" in York city centre this weekend to make the point that breastfeeding is a normal and necessary part of life.

The weekend's event has been organised in conjuction with a Staffordshire "nurse-in" organised by mum Emily Slough, who hit the national headlines this week after she was called a tramp for breastfeeding her baby in public.

Organisers Kendal Mosley-Chalk and Anne Dawson Calliou said that while York is generally very tolerant of breastfeeding, they want to reassure new mums they don't need to worry about being in public places.

Mum-of-two Kendal, 30, from Holgate, said: "We need to normalise breast feeding, women should never feel bad about feeding their child."

She said dads and families were all welcome along.

Speaking about the incident in Staffordshire, Kendal said: “We wanted to organise something in support. It’s so shocking in this day and age a woman would be shamed for feeding her child in a very natural way.”

Ms Slough, 27, said she had "discreetly" stopped to feed her eight-month-old daughter Matilda during a shopping trip in Rugely last week. It is then believed someone secretly took a picture of her from across the road and posted it on a public page of Facebook labelling her a tramp.

Aa well as York, a further nurse in event in also expected to take place in Swansea.

A Facebook page called Breast Feeding Friendly York is due to open to help publicise businesses that welcomed mums, she said.

The nurse-in is due to happen at noon on Saturday in Parliament Street.