PORTLAND – Nursing mothers were offended when the latest issue of Mothering magazine, with a cover photo of an infant nursing at its mother’s breast, disappeared from shelves at the Wild Oats Natural Marketplace.

But it turns out the store removed the issue at the request of another mother who was offended by the photograph.

Wild Oats manager Scott Reed said a customer who came in about three weeks ago told him she was uncomfortable having her young son see the cover of the January-February issue of Mothering magazine, a family-oriented publication with a focus on natural living. The cover featured the nursing baby and the headline, “Why breast is still best.”

Reed said he planned to replace the magazine when the woman and her son left the store. But workers who thought he wanted the issues removed entirely sent all 16 copies back to the distributor.

“Shame on me for the miscommunication,” Reed said. “I am pleased that it was brought to our attention so we could rectify it. We fully support breast-feeding. We fully support Mothering magazine.”

Nicole Foster, a Wild Oats customer and member of the Southern Maine Breastfeeding Coalition, said that when she noticed the magazine was missing, she was told it had sold out. She later learned it had been sent back.

“The mothers were becoming very frustrated and found it absurd that a natural food store would remove something that really couldn’t be more natural,” Foster said.

Foster said stigmatizing breast-feeding makes women uncomfortable doing something that is good for their children.

“We live in a society in which breasts are identified as sexual objects,” she said. “People are very uncomfortable with seeing them as anything other than that.”

Another group, called Mindful Maine Mamas, held a few “nurse-ins” at the store’s cafe to protest. But the magazine remained off the shelves until this weekend, when mothers started calling Reed. He sent a maintenance worker to buy new copies at a Borders bookstore.

Peggy O’Mara, Mothering’s editor and publisher, said in a written statement that removing the issue because of its cover “leaves breast-feeding women confused and vulnerable.”