Your baby is finally here, and you want to do something to commemorate your little one’s arrival. Whether it’s your newborn’s name or an inspirational quote, can you get a tattoo while breastfeeding?
Think Before You Ink
A tattoo is a permanent marking on your skin. A tattoo artist uses special dyes and needles that push the dye into your skin. After the tattoo is applied, it scabs over and, when it heals, the design is exposed. Is this process safe for your baby if you’re breastfeeding? It can be, but you have to check some things out.
Make sure the studio is clean. “There is no indication that the dye from the tattoo gets into breast milk,” says Deedra Franke, a registered nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. “However, mothers should be more concerned with the cleanliness of the tattoo equipment. You want to make sure the tattoo artist uses clean needles. Anytime you’re messing with someone’s skin, there’s a chance the mother can contract an infection from dirty needles.” Don’t be shy about asking the artist about sterilization practices.
One such infection is hepatitis C, a contagious liver disease that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness that attacks the liver. However, hepatitis C does not pass through breast milk according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though it’s possible to pass the disease on if your nipples are bleeding and cracked.
Getting a tattoo can also affect your ability to donate milk. “Can you get a tattoo while breastfeeding?” says Diana West, an IBCLC and director of media relations of La Leche League International. “Yes, however, we do ask breastfeeding mothers not to donate milk to a milk bank for at least a year because of the possibility of contracting hepatitis C from needle contamination, but the ink itself doesn’t get into the milk.”
Tattoos may also expose you to less severe risks, including an allergic reaction to the tattoo dyes, local infections at the tattoo site and the potential for skin bumps called granulomas which occur around the ink. Though none of these things will affect the quality or safety of your breast milk, they may impair your ability to breastfeed if they occur near your breasts or nipples. For this reason, tattoos on the breasts may present more risks than those elsewhere on your body during this time.
Body Piercings
Since both tattoos and piercings use needles to break the skin, you run the same risk of infection in both procedures if your body artist uses unclean piercing needles. Find a shop that uses sterile tools and follow their aftercare instructions properly, and body piercings likely won’t present a problem. However, there is one exception — nipple piercings. These piercings might look cool, but unfortunately they aren’t functional when it comes to breastfeeding.
“Nipple piercings create opportunities for milk to leak, or for infection and the buildup of scar tissue,” says West. The standard method of piercing a nipple is to push a sharp needle through either the base or the tip of the nipple. “Piercings that are back further in the meat of the nipple can also cause nerve damage and decrease a mom’s ability to eject her milk,” she adds.
If you already have your nipples pierced, West encourages mothers who are breastfeeding to remove the piercing before beginning because it can cause latching problems for the baby or can even hurt the baby as he tries to put the breast in his mouth. If you remove your piercing through the time you are breastfeeding, you can wait until about a year after the baby is done feeding to get the nipple repierced. However, if you have any concerns about the safety of tattoos or piercings, consult your doctor before making your decision.
Need some coverage for when you decide to head over to the shop? Hire a sitter on Care.com.
Lisa Iannucci a freelance writer who has written for many national and regional parenting publications.
