Pediatricians tout the health benefits of breast-feeding, citing reams of data showing it helps babies fight infection, wards off allergies and stimulates brain growth. The federal government pushes it, even passing laws that protect mothers who nurse on government property.

GRACE BEAHM/STAFF Lori Rueger holds her 2-month-old daughter, Alessandra, at Mount Pleasant Towne Centre, where Rueger said she was not welcome to breast-feed her daughter while shopping at Victoria's Secret.

South Carolina has gone so far as to name breast-feeding one of the top weapons in its war on obesity. Nonetheless, the Palmetto State isn't among the more than 35 states that have laws guaranteeing women the right to nurse in public.

Moms in the Charleston area say they're usually able to find a quiet, private place to breast-feed while they're out and about with their babies, but raised eyebrows and rude store clerks still are commonplace.

When Lori Rueger's 2-month-old daughter, Alessandra, got fussy at Towne Centre in Mount Pleasant recently, Rueger asked a clerk at Victoria's Secret if she could use one of the store's dressing rooms to nurse. The clerk, Rueger said, told her she should go to the public restroom next door at Old Navy.

To Rueger and many other breast-feeding moms, that's not acceptable. "Would you want to eat in the same room where someone was defecating?" Rueger said. "I wouldn't even bring a soda into a bathroom because I'm so afraid of germs."

A spokesman from Victoria's Secret's parent company, Limited Brands, said the clerk merely suggested that Rueger "might be more comfortable" in the bathroom and that there's no specific company policy banning breast-feeding in its stores.

Rueger, who bottle-fed her first child, is an unlikely advocate, given that she's so shy about nursing that she bought pricey shirts to keep herself covered while Alex is feeding and isn't comfortable nursing in front of family members.

The incident has spurred the 29-year-old stay-at-home mom into action, though. She's sent e-mails to state legislators, the American Civil Liberties Union, a New Jersey attorney specializing in nursing mothers' rights and to all her friends.

"I'm just really stunned and shocked," she said. "It just gives you the shivers, that a poor infant is being denied."

It's not lost on her that the company in question makes its money selling sexy lingerie with ads featuring scantily clad women.

Some mothers say they are frustrated that breast-feeding in public raises eyebrows while sexual images are common in TV, advertising and the Internet.

"The only reason it's there is to nurse your baby," said Elizabeth Gush, a Mount Pleasant mother of two who has helped educate other new moms about breast-feeding. "If someone confronted me, I'd say, 'This is how God intended for me to feed my baby, so if you have a problem, you can take it up with him.' "

Last year, a Columbia mother feeding her baby in a bank was asked to go the bathroom or leave the premises. The issue has sparked debate nationally, too, with moms in New York City and Washington, D.C., staging "nurse-ins" on street corners and in coffee shops, pleading for laws that protect breast-feeding moms.

State laws give women the right to breast-feed in any public place she's allowed to be, from movie theaters to the county courthouse. With no similar laws on the books in South Carolina, it's ultimately up to individual businesses to decide how to handle the needs of nursing moms.

Law enforcement, though, is likely to come down on a mother's side if anyone complains.

"I can't imagine a police officer taking action against someone who's nursing a baby," said Lt. Shawn Livingston, an officer with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, who noted that women are welcome to come to the department's substation at Towne Centre if they need a place to feed their babies. "It all comes down to good common sense, and a kid's got to eat."

Because babies need to be fed on demand until they reach about 6 months, nursing moms in the Charleston area quickly suss out the best spots to nurse while running errands. Upscale department stores, for instance, tend to have sitting rooms attached to restrooms where moms can breast-feed in relative privacy.

Dressing rooms are a popular choice, too, and women involved in breast-feeding advocacy groups say store clerks generally are helpful. At other times, especially when a public bathroom is the only alternative, moms head to their cars at feeding time.

"If you don't feed them when they're hungry, they holler and make a lot of noise," said Sharon Spriggs, an international board-certified lactation consultant with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Trident district. "That's much more upsetting to be around than someone feeding a quiet baby."

Few new mothers plan how to handle public nursing, so lactation consultants often give tips as part of their training. It's unrealistic to expect women to shutter themselves in their homes the whole time they're nursing, but roadblocks outside the home tend to decrease the amount of time moms stick with it, said Jean Rhodes, manager of the Medical University of South Carolina's lactation consultation service and center.

In South Carolina, less than 60 percent of mothers breast-feed, compared to about 70 percent nationally, so troubles with public nursing encroach on already tenuous territory, said Rhodes, an international board-certified lactation consultant who holds a doctorate in nursing science.

It all makes for a confusing set of messages, said Elizabeth Cook, a James Island mother of three girls, a 5-year-old and 2-year-old twins, all of whom she breast-fed.

"Every expert in the world says it's the best thing to do for your baby," she said. "But women are made to feel like they're stripping and just made to feel guilty."