text: A young mother, banned from breastfeeding her 11 month old son because of the risk of HIV transmission after she had a tattoo done, has made an urgent application to the Family Court to have the order overturned. 
   
   The 20-year-old, who is known as Ms Jackson for legal reasons, had a finger and a foot tattooed on May 6 without telling the tattooist she was breastfeeding. 
   
   Soon after, the boy's father, known as Mr Macek, who is separated from the mother, took the toddler to live with him and his mother. 
   
   He claimed his former partner had mental health and drug issues. 
   
   Advertisement 
   
   Ms Jackson petitioned the Federal Circuit Court to return the boy to her care. 
   
   In an interim hearing in Newcastle on June 5, Judge Matthew Myers said the mother should have primary care of her son but ordered that he spend time with the father several times a week. 
   
   However, he ordered her not to breastfeed the child because of the risk that she had contracted a blood-borne disease when she got the tattoos. 
   
   Hepatitis B and C and HIV can be transmitted if tattooing equipment is not cleaned and sterilised properly between users. 
   
   The court heard that, although the mother has since tested negative to HIV, she was still in a "window period" during which a positive result may not yet show up. 
   
   The Australian Breastfeeding Association says HIV can be transmitted from mother to baby via breast milk. 
   
   The owner of the tattoo studio, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the court via a letter that, "as a rule", he does not tattoo pregnant or breastfeeding women. 
   
   However, the mother did not inform him she was breastfeeding. 
   
   Judge Myers said he weighed up the benefits of breastfeeding for an 11-month-old infant against the life-long harm caused to a child who contracted HIV. 
   
   "It is the view of the court that it is not in the best interests of the child that the mother continue to breastfeed the child, and in those circumstances the court will make the order sought by the father, that is, that the mother be prevented from breastfeeding the child," he said. 
   
   He also said it was "disappointing" that the mother had smoked cannabis on May 22 while she was breastfeeding. 
   
   Both parents provided the court with clean drug screens. Judge Myers also ordered both the mother and father to abstain from using illicit drugs in the 48 hours prior to or during the care of their son. 
   
   He also ordered them not to "partake in any criminal activity" while the boy was with them. 
   
   Further, he ordered the mother to live with the child's maternal great-grandmother and the father to live with the child's paternal grandmother to ensure there was a "responsible adult" around the child. 
   
   The mother, who has been diagnosed with post-natal depression, was told to obtain and follow a mental health plan. 
   
   An apprehended domestic violence order against the father, granted by a Local Court on May 14, remains in place. 
   
   On Friday, three judges of the Family Court in Sydney will hear an appeal against Judge Myers' orders. ||||| Judge bans mother from breastfeeding 11-month-old son because she got a tattoo 
   
   Updated 
   
   A judge has banned a mother from breastfeeding because she got a tattoo, ruling the woman's decision to get it four weeks earlier exposed her 11-month-old baby to an unacceptable risk of harm. 
   
   Federal Circuit Court Judge Matthew Myers' decision to grant an injunction to stop the woman from breastfeeding her son comes despite the mother recording negative results on hepatitis and HIV tests. 
   
   Judge Myers said there was still an unacceptable risk to the baby because the tests were not conclusive. 
   
   The case came before the court because the baby's father raised concerns about the mother's tattoo during a bitter parenting dispute. 
   
   The decision has shocked breastfeeding advocates like Dr Karleen Gribble from the University of Western Sydney. 
   
   "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," she said. 
   
   In making the ruling, Judge Myers relied on material published by the Australian Breastfeeding Association. 
   
   Does that mean that women who expose themselves to any sort of risks around the contraction of a blood-borne virus... shouldn't be allowed to breastfeed? Australian Breastfeeding Association's Rebecca Naylor 
   
   Chief executive officer Rebecca Naylor said she is worried a dangerous precedent could be set. 
   
   "Tattooing is a regulated industry, so if you go to a tattoo parlour that is reputable then the chances [of contracting an infection] are very low," she said. 
   
   "I think unless there's evidence that she has contracted an infection as a result of that tattoo, then it is unreasonable. 
   
   "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." 
   
   Ms Naylor also flagged broader concerns about the wider implications of the ruling, saying it raised questions about a judge's right to control the risk taking behaviours of women. 
   
   "Does that mean that women who expose themselves to any sort of risks around the contraction of a blood-borne virus... shouldn't be allowed to breast feed?" she said. 
   
   "Of course we have to consider the risk to babies, and I'm not in any way dismissing that. 
   
   "Women do need to be careful. "They're feeding a child, it's going to be their main source of nutrition up until they're 12 months of age, so you do have to be careful. 
   
   "But it doesn't mean that you have to wrap yourself in glad wrap." 
   
   Dr Gribble said she had never seen a case like this before. 
   
   "I'm only aware of one case where somebody contracted HIV from tattooing and that was somebody who'd got a tattoo in Bali, not somebody who'd gotten it in Australia," she said. 
   
   "I think when it comes to mothers and breastfeeding, we need to consider that mothers are people, they do things. 
   
   "Sometimes there's a risk associated with what they do, but we generally think that they don't need to protect their children from all risk and it [comes down to] considering, is this a reasonable risk? 
   
   "Most people consider that the risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis from using a tattoo parlour, and particularly if they've been careful about checking it out, is infinitesimally small." 
   
   A full bench of the Family Court has agreed to hear an urgent appeal against the ruling in Sydney on Friday. 
   
   Topics: breast-feeding, breastfeeding, women, womens-health, australia 
   
   First posted
target: – The mother of an 11-month-old baby in Australia can once again breastfeed her child, but it took the intervention of a court. Sydney's Family Court today overturned a previous decision barring the woman from breastfeeding because she had gotten a tattoo a month ago, reports 9 News. The earlier judge thought that put the child at risk for diseases such as HIV or hepatitis and ordered the unidentified woman to stop breastfeeding, but a Family Court judge ridiculed the decision as one that seems to have resulted purely from "surfing the Internet." The unusual case stems from a nasty custody dispute, explains the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The child's parent's aren't together, and the father complained to the court that the mother was unfit, in part because of the tattoo. The woman tested negative for any diseases, but the first judge deemed the results inconclusive. "It is the view of the court that it is not in the best interests of the child that the mother continue to breastfeed," he ruled, per the Sydney Morning Herald. The strange thing is that he cited guidelines from the Australian Breastfeeding Association, but the leader of that group thinks he overreacted. "Women do need to be careful," she says. "But it doesn't mean that you have to wrap yourself in Glad wrap." (Dad can take heart: He lost, but his kid may end up earning more in the long run.)