Restaurants, hotels, shopping centres and other service sectors are being called on to welcome breast-feeding mothers in an initiative by the Health Promotion Unit.
The unit, part of the Department of Health and Children, wants to expand the scheme to include buses, trains and planes.
Maureen Fallon, the unit's national breast-feeding co-ordinator, said while the State had quite low breast-feeding rates, there were indications that more mothers wanted to breast feed.
"More mothers who want to breast-feed are out and about and we want to make it easier to combine their lives with being able to breast feed their babies in public."
All babies needed to be fed, and not always at the most convenient times, and that was the reason they asked restaurants, cafes, hotels, pubs and also shopping centres to make it easy for mothers to feed their babies.
She added: "We want to make breast-feeding a part of normal life, and it is a normal, unremarkable thing to do."
The campaign started last year and 100 restaurants have indicated their support. Stickers are available which they can put up in the premises stating mothers are welcome to feed their babies there.
Ms Fallon said it had been established that many mothers had chosen not to breast-feed because of the embarrassment of feeding their babies in public.
"Discrimination against mothers breast-feeding in public breaches their rights under the Equal Status Act."
If a proprietor refused to allow a mother to breast-feed then a complaint could be made to the Equality Authority. Complaints were often made by customers in a restaurant, but in a case such as this the proprietor is liable and should make it clear that breast-feeding is acceptable.
"We are not asking restaurants and hotels to provide separate facilities, just to make mothers welcome and support them," she said.
"They were asking shopping centres, if appropriate, to provide facilities which could be shared among shops. It was not a pre-requisite to have a sticker though."
Moreover, it appears likely the unit will be asking public transport and planes to follow suit. Ms Fallon said breast-feeding had been shown to protect babies from infections and other ailments. It also provides benefits in adult life in maintaining low blood pressure and preventing obesity.