A Virginia woman who wanted to comfort her baby during a church service said she was asked to leave the mass for breastfeeding openly. Annie Peguero, from Dumfries, said in a Facebook Live video that she was questioned twice as she breastfed her baby on Sunday in the Summit Church in Springfield. The church officials questioned first as she sat near the church's "baby room" without a nursing cover over her breast and also second time as she nursed openly in the mass during the sermon.

Peguero, a military wife and a mother of two, said that a church official told her it went against the church policy to nurse openly.

She was told, "We don't want to make a man uncomfortable in church, and we also don't want to make a new churchgoer feel uncomfortable," said Peguero.

Church officials did not immediately respond to the inquiries. Peguero declined an interview on Wednesday evening, after a wave of the negative comments were posted online.

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Virginia law gives a right to the mothers that they breastfeed anywhere and are legally allowed to be. There is no exemption for the religious institutions.

Peguero is a personal trainer whose tagline is "finding sunshine and strength in struggle." She said that she breastfeeds openly because it fulfills her daughter's basic needs. She advised the other mothers to ignore stares.

"Don't change your behavior because you're worried about what someone else thinks or does. Breastfeeding is normal," she said.

Peguero said that she had been enjoying the service at nondenominational church, where she had to attended the services several times.

"I'll never set foot in that church again, and it makes me really sad," she said.

Mrudula Duddempudi.