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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think you shouldn't be getting a tattoo when pregnant?

57 replies

iMemoo · 06/09/2011 11:33

I'm not against tattoos, I even have one myself. My cousin has just put pictures of her new tattoo on FB, she is 32 weeks and had it done yesterday.

I am Shock

OP posts:
wickedwitchofwaterloo · 06/09/2011 15:29

I'm obviously totally biased but is there really any need for all the 'tattoos are rubbish anyway' brigade? The OP had nothing to do with what your personal opinion was on them!

PiousPrat · 06/09/2011 15:54

Keeping to the sueing over cheese analogy, there would be a host of people with partial 'responsibility' for serving the cheese though, the woman ordering it, the waiter, the chef, the owner, whoever devised the menu etc whereas with a tattoo, the buck stops with the tattooist so perhaps it is just that they are more mindful of the potential consequences for them personally and professionally.

You are of course right about my lumping drunken consent in with pregnancy as being wrong, that was lazy posting on my part for which I apologise. I think the point i was trying badly to make was that with someone who was drunk, there is a greater risk of bleeding more just as there is during pregnancy, and that a drunk person may be unduly affected by a decision made when under the influence, whilst a nursing infant may be unduly affected by a decision they had no say in so where the lines are a little blurred it is easy to see why blanket ban policies are put in place.

I accept that my viewpoint may be skewed by my opinion on tattoos though, which is that personally I like them (I have 2 and am working on a design for a third) but I believe that they are a big decision and so should be thought on long and hard. That being the case, I don't see it as being such a big deal to wait an extra couple of months to have something done if you have already waited a year to make sure it is the right choice for you, if that couple of months wait totally eradicated any risk to someone else.

I have also realised while posting that that my views seem to mostly centre around breast feeding mothers, rather than pregnant ones, as my view seems skewed by the tattoo potentially affecting another person who is a separate entity to the mother rather than something which is still part of her body. With pregnancy, my issue (for myself, it is up to others what they do for themselves) is more cents around the physical changes pregnancy brings that make tattoos less suitable during that time.

PiousPrat · 06/09/2011 15:56

More centred around the physical changes.

whackamole · 06/09/2011 15:59

I was told not to because your body is trying to build a baby, purposely giving it something else to heal is not a good idea. Same with piercings.

I wouldn't, but each to their own I guess.

SiamoFottuti · 06/09/2011 16:07

I see what you mean, Pious, and honestly I'm not disagreeing with you. It just doesn't sit right from that point of view, you know what I mean?

PiousPrat · 06/09/2011 16:18

Do you know Siamo I'm not even sure if I agree with me about it now that I really think on it Hmm I think it was a gut reaction which now I have thought more on, I am reassessing.

I think the difference is between what I would do and what I think other people should do. One is my business, one isn't. I wouldn't have a tattoo right now (39 weeks) or while breast feeding, for all the reasons mentioned above but I would damn well fight against legislation saying I couldn't have it done.

I would support the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body, just as I support the right of tattooists to choose how to operate their businesses so I have no problem with a tattooist refusing to work on a pregnant/nursing mother if they are not willing to take the extra risk, it is their choice. Just as it is the choice of the mother to then find another tattooist who is willing to do the work, if she so chooses.

VeryLittleGravitas · 06/09/2011 17:17

Just a few reasons why it's inadvisable to get tattooed while pregnant:

Ink Allergy.

Immune Tolerance. means you are more susceptible to infection.

Tattoo ink composition. Many tattoo inks contain Mercury, Cadmium or Lead pigments.

And the main one...no decent tattooist will work on a heavily pregnant woman. I wouldn't trust the quality of work or the standards of sterilization and hygiene from anyone who would.

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