Breastfeeding and nipple piercing

Can you breastfeed while you have a nipple piercing? Will you need to take out your piercing if you are planning on nursing your baby? Now that piercings are very common and many women are dealing with this question, we at SteadyHealth thought that would be an interesting thing to look into. Perhaps we should tackle breastfeeding with breast implants and giving birth with a clitoral hood piercing next. For now, here is what we know about breastfeeding and nipple piercings.

I am a tattooed mom myself, and I did get a navel piercing when I was a teenager. But no nipple piercings here. Still, I do have a mom friend who had a nipple piercing and went on to breastfeed her baby for longer than a year. Her advice is to take out the piercing and breastfeed. She had no problems with nursing, but thought that the piercing would be distracting to the baby and might cause problems in the later stages of nursing, when babies start chewing on stuff. Lactation consultants confirm what my friend knew instinctively.

Many lactation consultants say that breastfeeding while a nipple piercing is inserted can result in a poor latch, refusal to nurse, and milk leaking from the baby's mouth leading to a lack of nutrition. The answer is simple if you have a nipple piercing, take it out before you start breastfeeding. Getting a nipple piercing while you are pregnant is a bad idea. Most piercers would refuse to pierce pregnant mothers anywhere, nipples included. And getting a piercing in your nipple while breastfeeding would mean your baby could ingest blood and heavy metals that are often expelled from the piercing itself. Would you like to get nipple piercing? Waiting until your child is older and stopped breastfeeding is the solution.