A Perth mother has shared her ultimate post-partum 'baby brain' mistake after discovering she accidentally tattooed her daughter's name with a permanent typo. Katie Benjamin, who posts under the handle @givingmumvibes, left social media in stitches after revealing her new ink had gone horribly wrong.
In a viral clip that has racked up thousands of views, the sleep-deprived mum showed off her fresh forearm tattoo, which was meant to spell her daughter's name, Airlie. However, the fine-line script clearly reads 'Arilie' instead of 'Airlie', completely swapping the 'i' and 'r' in the name.
Luckily, the Aussie mum took the mishap in her stride, telling news.com.au, 'It was so funny and honestly only something that would happen to me, I swear.' Katie explained that the original design was meant to feature her toddler's name, 'Airlie', but the letters were completely back to front.
'The artist had misspelt it on the stencil printout,' she revealed. 'I picked out the font and size all without noticing the mistake, and even watched her tattoo it on, and I didn't notice!'
She blames the oversight on being exhausted during 'trimester four' – 'the period after having a baby when you're adjusting to life with a newborn,' she explains. Katie just gave birth to her second child, Reef, in April, so when she recently got her tattoo, she was juggling her toddler Airlie, a newborn, and running on 'very little sleep'.
'My brain definitely wasn't operating at 100 per cent, so I didn't pick up the mistake until after it was tattooed!' she laughed. 'Luckily, it was a pretty easy fix, as the font was script and the letters were similar enough to make it work, so I went back the next day and the artist fixed it up. If it had been missing a full letter or something like that, I would have considered getting it removed and started again, but I'd also like to believe that if it was something as big a mistake as that, I would have noticed it.'
The comment section was full of parents laughing along and confessing their own hilarious post-partum blunders. One follower admitted they were 'actually dying' from laughter over the video, prompting Katie to reply, 'tell me you're sleep-deprived without telling me'. Another user reminded Katie that in motherhood, 'if you don't laugh you'll cry girl … or both,' while another jokingly suggested the easiest solution would be to 'simply change the kids name'.
Another follower revealed her partner made a similar blunder with his mother's name, except his typo is permanently etched in 'big bold writing across his chest'. While Katie managed to get her tattoo altered quickly, data shows that tattoo regret is a major reality for millions of Australians. According to 2023 data from McCrindle, an estimated 30 per cent of the Australian population has at least one tattoo, equating to roughly three in 10 Aussies. The research shows that 57 per cent of tatted Australians get their first piece of body art between the ages of 18 and 24. However, data from global tattoo removal experts Removery reveals that about one in three Australians with tattoos eventually express a desire to remove at least one of them.
Experts suggest that if your fresh tattoo features a typo, the first step is to contact your artist immediately to document the mistake. Instead of rushing to fix it while it's fresh, the tattoo needs to fully heal, usually for four to six weeks, before any correction can take place. Once healed, people with a tattoo that has failed generally have three options: getting the original text cleverly altered, opting for a complete cover-up design, or removing the ink entirely with a laser.
