A Mother With Tattoo Is Banned From Breastfeeding Her Baby; Judge Believes It Poses ‘Unacceptable’ Health Risk

In an unusual case, a judge has banned a mother from breastfeeding her child because she got a tattoo. The judge think, the woman's decision to get the tattoo done four weeks earlier could expose her 11-month-old baby to an unacceptable health risk.

Federal Circuit Court Judge Matthew Myers' decided to grant a ban to stop the mother from nursing her son even as the woman’s hepatitis and HIV tests have shown negative results. Judge Myers said those tests were not conclusive, hence it still poses an undesirable risk to the infant’s health.

The Father’s Take

The parents of the 11-month-old boy had a dispute, prompting the father raise his concerns about the mother’s tattoo, which eventually led the matter to the court.

ABC News quoted Dr. Karleen Gribble from the University of Western Sydney saying, "I think if it were reasonable then we would have very, very many women in Australia who would be quite horrified and perhaps child protection authorities should be taking action because many mothers who are breastfeeding get tattoos — very often of their children's names.” Dr. Gribble is known to advocate breastfeeding.

During the verdict, Judge Myers took out references from the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s published work.

Experts think otherwise

Chief executive officer of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, Rebecca Naylor is afraid that the injunction could set a wrong example. "Tattooing in and of itself, as long as it's done in reputable way and that the infection control procedures are followed, the risk is low and so no, we would absolutely encourage women who have had tattoos to breastfeed their babies for as long as they choose to," she said.

However, she didn’t rule out the factors that could risk babies, saying nursing mothers need to be careful because breast milk is the main source of nutrition until a baby is 12 months of age.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gribble said she is seeing a case like this for the first time, but she did mention of a case where someone contracted HIV from tattooing, which was done in Bali not Australia.

Contract the writer on barsha23@gmail.com