'Traumatised' mother says she was forced to "hand express" breastmilk by airport security.

A new mum was “humiliated” after allegedly being forced to prove she was breastfeeding before boarding an international flight last Thursday.

Gayathiri Bose, 33, told the BBC she was stopped by police at Frankfurt airport because she had a breast pump with her, but not her infant.

The Singaporean woman said her passport was taken and she questioned in a private room after staff became suspicious of the common device many mothers us to collect excess milk.

Bose said she was asked, “You are breastfeeding? Then where is your baby? Your baby is in Singapore?”

Inside the room, a female police officer then allegedly asked for proof she was lactating.

"She asked me to open up my blouse and show her my breast. She then asked how come I didn't have anything attached to my breast, if I was lactating and expressing breast milk," Bose told the BBC.

"She wanted me to show her by hand-expressing a little."

The mother-of-two, who has a three-year-old child and seven-month-old infant, said she complied, out of "shock".

"I just started to cry, I was terribly upset."

The pump was eventually returned — after testing — along with her passport, Bose said, but the experience, which lasted almost 45 minutes, was "very traumatising".

"While I do respect the need to do security checks on items that may seem suspicious, to outrage a person's modesty is definitely crossing the line," Bose said.

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A spokesperson from the airport confirmed to the BBC the mother had been stopped and her breast pump had been tested.

He denied she had been asked to squeeze her breast, however.

Bose, who took down the female officer's name and lodged a formal complaint with the police, said she is considering legal action.