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Some commuters don't give up their seats for pregnant women because they fear offending someone who is just overweight, it has emerged. Here, expectant mothers give tips on how to tell the difference.
It's a minefield of mixed signals, indecision, guilt and offence. All played out painfully in public on a crowded bus or train.
Some people are just selfish, yes, but the average commuter would probably give up his or her seat for a pregnant woman, with good grace. It's just not that straightforward.
For a start, he might not have noticed her, and is instead lost in a book or World Cup supplement. Few people repeatedly scan for those more in need of a seat at every stop. And where does his area of responsibility end - shouting distance?
Then there's that nagging doubt - is she pregnant, fat, or just wearing a baggy top?
Whatever the discomfort of offending a pregnant woman by staying seated, is it preferable to the excruciating awkwardness of effectively telling a woman, within earshot of about 20 people, that her tummy is so inflated it looks as if there's a baby inside?
The same dilemmas apply to seated women, of course, but society's expectation to be chivalrous still falls more heavily on men. And women, perhaps, are more adept at spotting the signs.
No wonder some passengers are frozen by agonising indecision. A survey by gurgle.com, a website owned by Mothercare, says 84% of pregnant women regularly have to stand - and one of the reasons under discussion on its messageboard was that seated commuters don't want to offend the non-pregnant. To help make things clear, Mothercare sells "Baby on Board" badges.

I reached into my top pocket and pulled out my railcard:

"I have one of these things if that's what you mean...

As David Cameron took questions in the Commons at midday every seat was taken, leaving a large group of MPs standing by the main doors.

Miss Swinson, who is due to give birth on Christmas Day, was among them.

But none of the MPs sitting just feet away offered her a seat ^ to the surprise of Westminster observers.

James Forsyth, political editor of The Spectator, wrote on Twitter: ^Quite remarkable that no MP has offered Jo Swinson, who is seven months pregnant, a seat.

However aides to Miss Swinson claimed the idea that she was not capable of standing was 'sexist'.

A source close to the minister said: ^The suggestion somehow that people should be outraged on her behalf is ridiculous. The idea that just because she is seven months pregnant she has lost all ability to stand on her two feet or fend for herself is quite sexist.

A mother is concerned that her son is getting overweight, and has the family cut down on Fish and Chipes and start eating more Fish fingers, boiled potatoes, peas, and cabbage. She points out a fat man in the street one day - a spare tyre flopping lazily over his belt - and says to her son "that's how you will turn out if you eat too much fatty food".

Travelling home on the bus one day, the son sees a woman who's heavily pregnant, goes up to her and with a cheeky grin says "I know what you've been doing" ...

I think London underground have the right idea in offering free badges that way there is no doubts if anyone is wearing one. Not every pregnant woman travelling on the tube/bus might want to wear one but it can help that awkward conversation.