That article was written by me!   Here is the link:  http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/724fa0ad#/724fa0ad/6

Basically the reason that tattoo shops and artists (and by default the insurance companies) do not want moms to get tattooed during pregnancy or breastfeeding is liability.  Pure and simple. 

In my research I found that there is nothing intrinsically bad or harmful about getting a tattoo while pregnant or breastfeeding.  Yes, the body must heal the tattoo (which could, theoretically, take away from her body's ability to grow the baby or produce milk) and yes, the mother always runs the risk of infection (especially if she does not follow proper aftercare procedures).  And yes, the inks used in tattooing are not regulated at all (and she may or may not have an allergic reaction to the ink) and have not been cleared for use *in* the dermal layer.   But in reality, having a tattoo done by a professional tattoo artist, following Universal Precautions, and then having mom perform proper aftercare, is really just as safe/not safe as any other procedure.  The ink remains trapped within the dermal layer (hence the reason it is permanent!) and so does not circulate within the body.  The tattoo artist, if he/she is professional, is autoclaving his tattoo gun and all needles, cups, and inks are new with every customer; he/she wipes down their space with disinfectant repeatedly and he/she wears gloves throughout the procedure (changing them whenever they must touch something outside the 'field').

Tattoo artists and shops are merely playing it safe (CYA).  There are NO laws or regulations within the US, that I am aware of, that state one way or the other that a tattoo artist cannot legally tattoo a pregnant or breastfeeding mother.  And really, lets think on this for a moment.  Mom is NOT going to bring her baby into the tattoo shop, so how is the tattoo artist to know whether she is nursing or not, unless she tells him?  Tattoo artists, even the female ones, have no more information about breastfeeding than the average person does.  SO the default answer is to say "NO" when a mom with a nursing baby wants to get a tattoo.

I hope this helps a little bit to clear things up.  There is absolutely NO research or information out there about body modification and breastfeeding beyond what I scrounged up and wrote.

Robyn Roche-Paull
BS, IBCLC, LLLL
Proudly tattooed and pierced!

Award-winning author of Breastfeeding in Combat Boots
www.breastfeedingincombatboots.com





On Jan 13, 2012, at 9:26 AM, LACTNET automatic digest system wrote:

And a LLL FAQ on tattoos

http://www.llli.org/faq/tattoos.html

I also remember a LLL magazine (Leaven?  New Beginnings?) with a cover picture / story of a heavily tattoo'd mother.  Perhaps one of these articles corresponded with it.

Ellen

Ellen J. Rubin, MA, IBCLC, LLLL

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