I have a tattoo. Will it affect my baby?

The main concern for tattoos is infection. Signs of infection include:

• Redness
• Warmth
• Pain
• Swelling
• Pus or red streaks coming out of the wound

If any of these signs appear, talk to your health care provider right away. 

Dirty tattoo needles can spread disease. If you think your tattoo parlor or artist wasn't sanitary enough, be sure to get tested for hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and syphilis. Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection. HIV/AIDS is a life-threatening disease that prevents your body from fighting off other infections. Syphilis is a serious illness; it is usually spread by sexual contact, but can also be spread in other ways.

If you have a lower back tattoo, talk with your health care provider about how it might affect pain relief during labor. An epidural is a shot given in the lower back to help block the pain of childbirth. Most health care providers will give an epidural to a woman with a tattoo on her lower back. But they may not if the back tattoo is recent and still fresh. There is no clear evidence for or against giving epidurals near tattoos. If you do have a back tattoo, find out the hospital's policy on epidurals in advance.

January 2007