You may remember that in the past I posted a pregnant Bree (iam:Wandering_Star). She’s since had her baby, and is back to getting tattooed by Ben of Slave to the Needle in Seattle, nursing baby in tow. If you’re wondering, no, tattooing and nursing is not like nursing and eating spicy food — it has no effect on the child.
Note: Just to be clear, this was done privately and off-shift — nursing babies on mothers getting tattooed are not within shop norms at STTN!
Comments
122 responses to ““Giving Life While Receiving Art””
in that respect Shannon I can definitely see your point about how people are not into public breastfeeding,etc,etc,etc…
I’m not against breastfeeding, hey babies gotta feed…But I think feeding in public in general weirds me out…I personally don’t feel comfortable in restaurants or anywhere really when eating…I’d much rather eat at home either by making food or ordering in…just a lil quirk I personally got, that’s my cross to bare haha
some of my best friends are breast feeders?..heh
I don’t want to write a novel here- but I wonder if those outside the situation are really aware of how widely breastfeeding women are discriminated against. That some are in constant battle to advocate for the rights of nursing women- and these threads are simply not new to some.
Tattoo or not, pictures of nursing women are often the subject of great debate. So are the moms themselves.
It seems child baring is still at a place where we drop all our beliefs in order to follow the recommendations of the government? The century upon century deep knowledge we have gleaned is null and void because we all need to protect the doctors from potential law suits?
I respect other’s views- but at the same time when I see conversations like this unfold my concern is that we are promoting the idea that women need to put their lives on hold in order to nurse. When the breastfeeding rates are still pathetically low in western culture the implication seems damning.
I don’t want to think women need to be encouraged to choose between individuality and breastfeeding their children. I have been nursing my four youngest (of five) children for a collective span of eleven years.
Motherhood should be celebrated but not because it defines who we are.
In a community that values the importance of defining one’s self through rite’s of passage I hope people can see this as another aspect of modifying one’s body via natural human growth and development.
-I never said infectious disease does ‘not’ spread via breast milk- i said hep C does not- nor do MANY pathogens. In fact the baby is jam packed- pumped full of human antibodies.
Breast milk can fight against infections and even treat them topically. Maybe all studios should have lactating mothers on hand?
sorry that was so a novel.
subject close to my heart- literally i guess.
i would just like to say
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/13/funny-pictures-breasfeedin-ur-doin-it-wrong/
so as far as i can tell this mother is breastfeedin rite
Its crazy how many people who don’t have babies and never read any information on babycare, what you can and can’t do when you have a baby, breastfeeding,… seam to know everything about it! Get a life!
Oh I forget to mention that I love the picture!
beautiful picture!
i have gotten tattooed while breastfeeding, and i also nursed the baby while being tattooed (though mostly we took breaks since i wasn’t in a very comfortable position to hold her ;). i also eat spicy foods a lot!
i got my tattoo during regular opening hours, my baby was in there with me mostly being held by my husband. but then, i’ve nursed her publicly in a lot of places and situations, so that wasn’t such a stretch. the tattoer wasn’t fazed by that at all, but then, this was in brazil, where most people are perfectly fine with public breastfeeding.
and btw, i am still nursing my almost three year old daughter, and not about to stop either.
Warren Hiller,
you call your uncomfortableness with public breastfeeding just a lil quirk I personally got”. But it’s not a little quirk. It’s a belief of our society. Until we start seeing these ideas as general rather than as personal we can’t change them. Mother who breastfeed in public still have a real hard time, not just those who breastfeed whille being tattooed.
Slave to the Needle’s policy is clear and you will NEVER see a baby in the “chair.” Never! It is directly against store policy and is not covered by insurance.
After-hours, special tattoo sessions amongst employees do not need to adhere to public policy.
If this were normal daily operation then all of this would be justified (well, not all of it…a lot of this is just crap). But it’s not a “normal” occurrence and it isn’t done in view of the public or during normal working hours…
So quit the judging and fear mongering. Christ on a stick, it sounds like a frickin republican convention in here!
“Warren Hiller,
you call your uncomfortableness with public breastfeeding just a lil quirk I personally got”. But it’s not a little quirk. It’s a belief of our society.”
Agreed wintermute. It’s not a “lil quirk”, it’s buy-in to a pathological, misogynistic social method of systematically portraying women’s bodies as acceptable when they are exposed as sex objects for consumers, but not acceptable to be used by women themselves for parenting and sustaining life.
Although to be fair Warren does seem to be saying that he’s also a little uncomfortable with adult men and women, and himself, eating in public. Which is at least consistent.
Beautiful photo! The tattoo looks great and bub is a cutey too.
Warren,
Did your mother breastfeed you?
I think this picture is really cute, but I have to disagree with something Bree said (sorry!). A friend of mine went on antibiotics to combat pneumonia and was told by her doctor to immediately stop breastfeeding so that the antibiotics wouldn’t go through her breastmilk to her baby.
Mmkay that’s all. Carry on!
why didn’t they just use antibiotics that are safe for nursing babies-cephalexin, cloxacillin sodium, erythromycin?
Women are prescribed antibiotics to treat mastitis all the time- an infection caused by lactating. It is not uncommon for women to receive advice from a doctor that encourage her to stop nnursing.
I hope your friend was ready to stop nursing as well, and I hope she healed well.
ha, when i saw this photo, my first thought wasn’t “oh no, that’s so unsanitary for the baby.” instead i thought having a baby was unsanitary for the shop. but i’m a little scared of small children so i’m quite sure i’m alone in this 🙂
anyway, someone mentioned that living things don’t generally pass through breast milk and i was wondering if that’s true? i don’t much (read: anything) about babies, but i remember from a disease class that a lot of puppies get parasites through their mother’s milk. do humans have an extra careful filtration system or something?
Sweet!!! 🙂
Ohhhhhhh….so beautiful!!! How come so many miss the beauty of this photo and go straight to the negative??
That’s an awesome picture!
Personally, I am a little reluctant to get tattooed while lactating because I heard the hormones associated with lactating can sometimes effect the skin’s ability to hold the ink . . . hence producing a blurry tattoo. I am yet to work out how true this is, though, and am always curious to look at tattoos other women have gotten while lactating to judge for myself. How have you found it, Bree?
Incidentally, I am currently breastfeeding my nearly 2.5 year old and am pregnant with my second. Breastfeeding, if done properly and for the true benefit of the child, *does* last years.
some viral infections do pass through milk-
however a breast fed child is the most UN likely candidate to become ill after exposure to most illnesses.
I really do think this little one shown is probably the most safe person pictured- and I do not question the safety of professional tattoo shops or artists or the safety of receiving quality tattoo work.
the human digestive system contains enzymes that kill most foreign pathogens, as well breastfed babies have oligosaccharides. Some studies have shown their bodies have unique digestive properties, on top of being protected from all the antibodies they receive from their mothers the oligosaccharides also protect them from ailments the mothers have never been exposed to.About 80 percent of the cells in breast milk are macrophages, cells that kill bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Human milk also contains a friendly flora Lactobacillus bifidus- which kills unfriendly flora.
Recent research has even shown breast milk killing cancer cells and correcting abnormal cell growth.
our Milkies are found to contain antibacterial leukocytes, the immunoprotective functions of these properties kills hostile bacterial pathogens. On top of these human milk also contains glycoconjugate, just one of many antiviral components.
As well the hydrolysis of milk triglycerides (part of the fat)during digestion produces fatty acids that are proven to be antiviral and antiprotozoan.
Most parasites are spread through contact and while I can’t speak of puppy milks- human milks kick ass.
What an awesome photo! Just lovely!
Man, there is a lot of misinformation flying around here, isn’t there? A lot of the crazy theories have already been rebutted by others, so I won’t bother adding my 2c on those issues. Breastfeeding is best, normal, and necessary for proper health of a baby. I can’t understand the issues people have against it WRT tattooing.
But oh well – I mainly wanted to laugh at the spicy food thing. There are some cultures who MOSTLY eat spicy foods. When in utero, the amniotic fluid that the baby lives in, pees in and drinks, changes taste according to what the mother has eaten. Same as breastmilk changes taste accordingly. You’d think they’d be used to it, wouldn’t you? MOST babies can handle any food, but they are individual, and some are more sensitive to known gas-causing foods, others probably just don’t like the taste of something new. Certainly no need to stop BF your baby because of it.
Is there any effect on the skin in regards to the hormone levels during breastfeeding? I know my skin was very different during pregnancy and while I was breastfeeding my son. That, for me, would be my only concern. Babies, and moms, are far more tough and resilient than most think.
Beautiful picture!
I just can’t believe my eyes, i am a mother of two boys and have numerous tattoos and but this i would never do, not out of risk but just by personal choice, whick we are all entitled to so you go sister, ROCK ON!
lucky baby!!!