Can You Get A Tattoo While Breastfeeding? Risk and Precautions

Tattoos are a way of expressing your emotions and feelings. These feelings increase according to situations. Sometimes when you are expecting or a mother of a newborn baby. So, if you are a mother of a newborn, then you should take care of yourself, as any carelessness may harm your child. Now the question arises for the newborn baby’s mother. Can you get a tattoo while breastfeeding? First, let us know what a tattoo is.

Tattoos are the designs and marks on the body using ink, dyes, and needles into the skin’s top layers. The tattoo artists use hand machines for designing and pricking. This process is non-anesthetic, which means the person taking a tattoo on his body never has anesthesia and gets little pain and sometimes bleeds too.

Women’s are also loved to reshape their nipples or areolas by tattooing. Heart shaped nipples or areolas are one of the most favorite option in women’s who wants tattoo in their breasts. But, before getting tattoos you must have some basic knowledge if you breastfeeds your little one.

Can pre-existing tattoos affect breastfeeding?

Now the question arises can you get a tattoo while breastfeeding? So, many considerations exist in a mother’s life while she breastfeeds. And the tattoo is one of them. If you have a pre-existing tattoo, then it never impacts breastfeeding and any milk supply veins.

But getting a new tattoo while breastfeeding is always avoided. Even if you want to remove existing tattoos during breastfeeding because that ink can get into the veins of milk supply, let’s know in more detail as follows.

Safety during Breastfeeding

There is no special instruction that forbids getting tattoos during breastfeeding. But no medical or advisory body suggests you get any tattoos during breastfeeding.

There is no medical report which proves any negative impact of tattoos while you are breastfeeding. So, always avoid getting tattoos if you are breast-feeding your child, even during pregnancy.

Risks in getting a tattoo while Breastfeeding

The tattooing process carries risks as the ink and colours used in this process are full of chemicals and heavy metals found in paint and printing products that can enhance the chance of infections in the milk. And in this process, the ink is deposited under the outermost layer of skin, called the dermal layer.

The main risks of tattooing are as follows:

• Allergic reactions from the inks on the body.
• Infections in the skin. It can be irritation, redness, itching, or pus secretion on the area of the tattoo.
• Blood infections like MRSA, tetanus, HIV, and hepatitis C. These problems may arise using unsterilized tattoo equipment.
• Rarely tattoos cause swelling or burning in the affected area during MRI(magnetic resonance imaging) examination.
• If any mother gets such issues after tattooing while breastfeeding, she requires treatments unsuitable for the child.

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Precautions need for tattooing at the breastfeeding stage

• It is beneficial for you if you go to any certified or reputed tattooing studio, where you find trained and experienced staff. Although the licensing standards vary in different areas.
• Ensure the artist washes his hands and wears gloves before the procedure.
• Ensure that the instruments and needles used for making a tattoo are properly clean and sterile.
• Be sure about the position of the tattoo where you want to mark.
• Talk to any doctor before getting the tattoo. Doctors can check your health condition as blood clotting, heart, and blood pressure.
• Keep the area clean while it heals. Always use good quality soap and water to clean the tattoo area.
• Use mild medicine for pain-relieving in the observance of a perfect doctor during breastfeeding.

Can you remove the tattoo while breastfeeding?

Tattoo removal is a long process; it takes several sessions to break down the ink in the second layer of skin into minute particles. It also affects your liver. However, no such report reflects that these particles enter the milk supply and are passed on to the baby. So, you should wait or delay your tattoo removal while breastfeeding.

Before removing the tattoos, contact your doctor if you breastfeed your child. Doctors never recommend removing the tattoo to breastfeeding mothers.

How can breastfeeding affect tattoos?

Breastfeeding and pregnancy affect pre-existing tattoos as your body changes during pregnancy. At this time, your tattoos may also discolor and change their design due to stretching your skin.

Sometimes if you have a tattoo on your breast, it is a good chance of discoloring and change in design as it also changes its shape during breastfeeding.

How to take care of your tattoo?

Care of tattoos depends on the type and category of work done. But still, some common ways are required for good care of the tattoo. These are as follows:

• Apply the moisturizer to the crafted area of your body.
• Avoid sun exposure to the crafted area for at least a few days, or your tattoo artist recommended.
• Keep yourself clean, especially that portion that is crafted. Always use mild soap and water to clean.
• Avoid pools, beaches, lakes, and hot tubs during the healing process of your tattoo.
• Don’t wear any synthetic and lycra variety of clothes. Also, your clothes should be cotton, and your clothes should not be stuck to the tattoo or irritated in any way.
• Keep yourself free from get-togethers and parties for at least 15 days until your tattoo is healed.
• Always follow the instructions given by tattoo artists. Use only recommended products such as moisture, soap, and lotions on the crafted area.
• If you ever feel that your crafted area has abnormalities, you should contact your doctor directly.

FAQs:

Conclusion:

A tattoo is an art with ink made up of harmful chemicals on your body. It is pricked into the skin’s second layer, called the dermal. So, such crafted work on the skin can create numerous issues to your skin.

So, the answer to the question, can you get a tattoo while breastfeeding, is that please avoid such art during this tender period. Always consult your doctor before having the tattoo on your body.

Although no such reports indicate that tattoo transfer into the milk supply veins, doctors still suggest delaying such art during breastfeeding. Numerous issues create allergies, reactions, and even pus secretion from the art area. The main problem is that the medication during this period harms the breastfed baby. That is the main reason why doctors never recommend getting a tattoo during breastfeeding.