Your Tattoos and Body Piercings While Pregnant
As a soon-to-be birth mom, you know your life is about to change. But by how much? One question running through your head is, “Will being pregnant alter any tattoos or piercings I have?” Unfortunately, there’s no real way to know for sure! Some tattoos and piercings may be affected, while others will not.
Adoption Choices of Colorado is here to help! The best thing you can do is educate yourself on all possible outcomes. This way, you’re prepared for any issues surrounding your tattoos and body piercings while pregnant.
Will My Existing Tattoos Change?
Women experience changes to their skin during pregnancy. It’s inevitable! As your tummy stretches, so may any tattoos that you have around your waist, pelvis or mid-section. Stretch marks occur as your baby grows. They form as your skin is put under tension and is not elastic enough to absorb the stretch. They can appear red or purple when the blood vessels below become visible. If you do develop stretch marks during your pregnancy, they may be visible through your tattoo and can distort the way your tattoo looks. But there are steps you can take to prevent pregnancy stretch marks and prevent your tattoo from stretching during pregnancy.
- Drink plenty of water. It is important to keep your skin hydrated from the inside out!
- Prep your bump. Gentle exfoliation is key to stretch mark prevention but can also apply to tattoo maintenance. Exfoliating 3 to 4 times a week smooths any dead skin cells from your bump and provides the perfect base for your moisturizer.
- Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! Using heavy moisturizers or oils all over your bump, thighs, and boobs will help keep your skin intensely nourished and elastic during your pregnancy.
The condition of the skin during pregnancy differs from woman to woman, and doctors often advise on treating skin that becomes highly sensitive. Professional tattooists can also advise on how to take care of the tattoo during pregnancy. Nevertheless, if your skin is highly irritated, it’s always best to seek medical advice for treatment appropriate in pregnancy.
Should I Remove My Body Piercings?
Your existing piercings won’t cause any problems for your developing baby. However, they may start to feel uncomfortable as your pregnancy progresses. Advice differs for each piercing, so read through to find out how to look after your piercings during pregnancy.
Are you worried that you’ll have to ditch your belly button piercing as your baby grows during pregnancy? Not necessarily As long as your piercing is healed — for example, you didn’t get it done within the last month or so — and healthy, there’s no medical reason why you need to remove your hardware during pregnancy. However, if your belly ring begins to feel tight as your belly grows, you may want to take it out. If it’s a newer piercing, make sure to replace it with Teflon body jewelry to stop the hole from closing!
Your breasts will become more tender during pregnancy, but you don’t need to remove jewelry from your nipples unless you want to! If you’ve had your piercing for 12-18 months before becoming pregnant, chances are it’s healed enough to not cause any problems. If you’re in pain, changing up the size or the style of your jewelry may help, as will removing it entirely, of course. Just keep in mind that labor is a different story! For a C-section, all body piercings, even earrings, must be removed.
If you’re wondering about genital piercings, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. Having a genital piercing may not cause you any problems during your pregnancy, apart from feeling a bit uncomfortable. This is because your skin and genitals can become more swollen and sensitive due to increased blood flow to the area around your pelvis. If your piercing is no longer comfortable, remove it! If it’s not bothering you, you can leave it in until closer to your due date. You should remove it before your due date, though, as it can cause problems during birth — your risk of tearing increases tenfold!
All in all, if you notice a piercing becoming red or sore, speak to your health care provider for advice! Some women find that their skin becomes ultrasensitive during pregnancy, and they often experience problems with existing piercings.
Can I Get New Tattoos or Piercings?
If you’re a fan of body art, you may feel like celebrating your pregnancy with a new tattoo or body piercing. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an artist willing to do it, though. Every time you come in contact with a needle, you run a small risk of infection. It’s best to wait a few months post-birth for new art.
If you got a tattoo or piercing before you found out you were pregnant, don’t worry! Talk to your doctor, and make sure to keep an eye out for any signs of infection.
Are Henna Tattoos Safe?
Natural henna, with no added chemicals, is safe to use on your skin and hair during pregnancy. It penetrates only the top few layers of skin, so as your skin exfoliates away, so does the henna stain. This is what makes it temporary compared to a permanent ink tattoo. Ink tattoos use a needle to penetrate deeply enough so that they don’t exfoliate away.
If you are interested in henna as a temporary alternative, be aware that there are different types. Natural, safe henna stains the skin orange, red, brown, cinnamon, brick, chocolate, or coffee and can last one to four weeks. You need to be absolutely sure the artist is using pure, natural products and not black henna. Black henna is not safe for anyone, pregnant or not.
Tattoos and Body Piercings While Pregnant
Bottom line — as long as you care for your tattoos and body piercings while pregnant, the likelihood of them being ruined or becoming infected is slim!
Adoption Choices of Colorado
For more information on adoption please contact Adoption Choices of Colorado. We can be reached via our website or phone 303-670-4401.
About the Author
Patience Bramlett, a University of Southern Mississippi news editorial graduate, is a seasoned and award-winning freelance writer. She is also a passionate reader, whose only wish is to live life without fear of the unknown. Her motivation and inspiration to live her best life stems from the words of John Lennon:
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
This year, she’s officially joining Adoption Choices Inc. as a Content Writer. Fueled by her love of family, she hopes to educate those looking to grow their families through adoption.
When Patience is not exploring Colorado with her husband, she’s drinking coffee, forever figuring out how to tame her hair, growing her library, and trying to break into the publishing career.
Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!