Mothers Debunk Myths Surrounding Pregnancy and Tattoos

As a woman with stomach tattoos, I’ve been asked one question time after time by friends, family and strangers: What is going to happen to your tattoos when you become pregnant? And while I have no intention of becoming pregnant any time soon, I still wasn’t able to answer this question. Your body changes so much when you become pregnant and the skin on your stomach will stretch to accommodate a growing baby. Some women end up with a lot of stretch marks, while others don’t. However, the only way for me to learn more about how my tattoos could potentially be affected by pregnancy was to inquire tattooed moms. 

The first person I looked to was Australian model and mother-to-be—Summer McInerney. McInerney is a popular tattoo model who is the muse of artist Coen Mitchell. She’s currently pregnant with her first child and documented the process on social media. In a video posted to McInerney’s YouTube channel, she was asked how her tattoos were affected by the pregnancy. She replied to the question by saying:

“My skin is very tight and my stomach skin is stretching. It’s hurting all the time and constantly being stretched. I’m trying to do everything that I can to avoid stretch marks. I’ve got a really good skincare routine, essentially I’m just hoping that my skin care routine will be enough for me not to have stretch marks and maybe for my belly to go back to normal. But we will see.”

We also asked model and mother of two, Brianna Wyble, about her experience with tattoos and pregnancy.  She’s had two kids and has plenty of experience understanding the way pregnancy will affect stomach tattoos. Here’s what she said:

“I gained about 30 pounds with each child and ate healthy so that my body wasn’t overly stressed and stretched. At the time, I had the kitty and moon tattoo on my belly as well as the phoenix on my ribs. Both look just as good now as when they were freshly healed. So if you take care of yourself, the tattoos should hold their shape.”

Lastly, we took a peek at YouTuber and new mum Lucy Molloy of Australia. Molloy recently had a baby with husband Dan Molloy and in a video published to her YouTube channel, she answered several questions sent in by her fans. And instead of sharing her experience in worlds, she went a step further by showcasing her stomach tattoos at nine months pregnant and then three weeks postpartum.

What do you think about these moms and how their pregnancies impacted their tattoos? Are you a mom who had a different experience? Let us know your thoughts, opinions and questions in the comments section on Facebook.