If you are considering getting a tattoo and being a mother, or if you are pregnant and have one or the other on your skin, you surely doubt its compatibility with pregnancy.
Perhaps you have thought about remembering this very special time in your life with getting a tattoo, or perhaps you have concerns about existing tattoos during pregnancy. Most of all, you want everything to be safe for you and your baby. This information will be helpful to you as you take care of the tattoos you already have and decide whether or not you should get a tattoo during pregnancy.
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Can you get a tattoo while pregnant?
In principle, no problem prevents you from doing it. It is recommended not to get tattooed in the first trimester because these are the most critical weeks for the development of the fetus, and you must take special caution with drugs and medications.
But it is a “legal medicine” measure because the ink stays on the skin and at most passes to the epidermis, but it never enters the blood and therefore cannot contaminate the fetus.
Do you have to take any precautions?
The usual aseptic rules to avoid contracting an infection. They are the same as recommended by the American Pregnancy Association. Make sure that:
- The professional is certified, and the centre registered.
- Gloves are worn.
- Have a sterilization unit for the equipment you use.
- The floors, surfaces and premises, in general, are clean.
- All needles used are new and disposable.
- The ink used for the tattoo comes in sterile packaging.
- The gauze pads are packaged and unopened.
- Can it make labour difficult in any way?
There has been a lot of talk about the incompatibility of back tattoos and epidural. An anesthetist will not put the epidural on the mother during labor if she has a fully tattooed lower back. But this is highly unlikely: there is always an area, even a very small one, that is clean and that the medical specialist can puncture to access the epidural space. It also does not interfere with the rest of your labor.
In the postpartum and lactation?
As it is explained, the tattoo ink stays on the skin, so it does not pass through breast milk either, and they are safe for the baby.
The basic rules of asepsis are still the only precautions to take if you want to have one shortly after becoming a mother.
What you should consider is the aesthetic aspect, especially if the tattoo is on the abdomen.
Pregnancy causes stretch marks, collagen breakdown in the skin, much more distended by the increase in the gut to accommodate the baby. This implies that the belly may take time to return to its previous appearance, depending on the morphology of the woman and previous pregnancies. If she has already been a mother or has had twins, the stretch will be greater, and the tattoo drawing may not be as well as before pregnancy.
So if you are looking for a baby but have not yet gotten a tattoo, why take the risk? Better to wait to recover after childbirth, when you have already recovered your previous silhouette, or you already know what your final appearance will be and decide where to decorate your skin because a tattoo is for life.
