Federal parliament is being urged to allow its MPs to breastfeed their babies in the chamber.
"It's 2015 and it's time," Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told AAP on Monday.
If a parliamentary committee is swayed, the rules preventing mothers from feeding their newborns in the House of Representatives could change.
More than 10 MPs have welcomed a baby in the past year and the "baby boom" has prompted the procedures committee to consider ways to better support working mothers.
The issue has come to light following controversy surrounding new mum and cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer.
She was recently told to express more breast milk so she didn't miss votes in parliament.
Committee chairman Andrew Southcott says the rules create uncertainty for MPs and put the Speaker in a potentially difficult position.
He touched on Labor MP Anna Burke's experience more than a decade ago when she was told by the Speaker that other members had not approved of her bringing her daughter into the chamber.
At the time, Ms Burke said she had no alternative because of the absence of any child care at Parliament House.
Senator Hanson-Young was forced to remove her two-year old daughter from the upper house chamber in 2009 following a ruling by the-then Senate president.
The child was heard crying as her mother and other senators gathered behind locked doors for a vote, a situation the senator described as the "most humiliating" of her life.
While mums are now allowed to breastfeed in the Senate, Senator Hanson-Young says there's still a long way to go in parliament supporting new mothers.
"It's all well and good to pay lip service to women's participation but what we actually need is practical changes like this," she said.
She's also disappointed that scheduled sitting weeks for 2016 clash with school holidays.
Labor MP Clare O'Neil urged committee members to make chamber breastfeeding happen, joking that a child would be the least of parliament's concerns with its array of colourful and eccentric MPs.
"As a mum and MP, it would make a huge difference to be able to take an infant into the chamber," she tweeted.
Dr Southcott said parliament's practice should meet changing community expectations in encouraging women's participation in the workforce and balancing work and family life.
A roundtable on Thursday will invite interested politicians to share their views on options to better support breastfeeding colleagues.
Children in the Chamber:
1995
Labor senator Jacinta Collins brings newborn into Senate chamber. Reaches understanding with Senate president child can share her seat in an emergency.
Pre-2001
Labor MP Anna Burke on two occasions brings child to House of Representatives but receives note from Speaker saying other members do not approve.
2001
Labor MP Mark Latham brings three-month-old child into two divisions when without a child minder.
2002
Senator Winston Crane delivers valedictory speech with young daughter by his side.
2003
State Labor MP Kirstie Marshall, former Olympic skier, ejected from the Victorian parliament after breastfeeding her baby in the chamber.
2005
Senior government MP Jackie Kelly forced to leave her three-year-old son Lachlan unattended in the public gallery of Parliament House while she attended Question Time.
2009
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told to remove crying two-year old daughter Kora
Labor MP Catherine King brings one-year old son into chamber on several occasions.
(SOURCE: PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY/AAP ARCHIVES)
