"Is the cinema any place to take baby?" the paper asked in a front-page teaser Friday to an interactive poll of what Singaporeans thought of the idea.

Most who responded to the online poll favoured a baby ban.

Reader Jacky Tai sparked the furore in a letter published in the Times on Tuesday where he complained that he and his wife were unable to enjoy the movie X-Men because of a mother pacing the cinema aisle to soothe her crying baby.

He proposed that children under three years of age be banned from cinemas and mothers who take them be thrown out.

Many Singaporeans polled agreed. Some suggested parents be "educated" not to take babies to the movies, while others said it was just plain common sense.

According to housewife Patricia Ng: "Parents shouldn't bring their children under three years old to places like the cinemas. Unless the show is a children's cartoon, it is not appropriate."

Isaac Ng, a council member of the Singapore Kindness Movement and father of four, said: "When a mother goes to the movie, she wants to enjoy it. Why stress herself and stress her baby. Poor baby."

But Michelle Lee disagreed, saying a mother nursing her baby inside a cinema was better than "inconsiderate people who put up their feet against the back of your seat or throw popcorn all over the place."

"First of all, there are bigger things to worry about in life," she wrote in the Times.

Mohamad Azni Abdul Ghani said Tai's letter "smacks of hooliganism" and reminded him "at least to learn to live and let live in this less perfect world."

Christina Tan said she once took her eight-month-old daughter to the movies and "she did not give me any problems, and I just used a blanket to cover her ears."

Marcus Khaw, operations director of film distributor Golden Village Pictures Pte Ltd, said despite the uproar he did not think babies would ever be banned from cinemas.

"It's not necessary," he told AFP. But he said parents should be considerate of others.

"People can bring their babies as long as they are mindful that their children won't make noise, that they should behave in consideration of others."

Mark Shaw of film distributor Shaw Organisation said when a baby starts crying "the decent thing to do is to leave the hall and not disturb others' viewing pleasure."