The baby ear piercing debate is a hot button topic. It ranks up there with the breastfeeding versus breastfeeding debate, or the controversy over cloth diapers vs. disposable diapers. Everyone has his or her own opinion on this topic. Some parents are appalled and disgusted that you would even think about piercing an infant’s ears; others think those little diamond studs in your baby’s ears are cute.
Whether it’s due to cultural reasons or family traditions, some babies’ ears are pierced. If you’re thinking about piercing your child’s ears, you may be wondering,
How old does my child have to be? Is it safe to pierce a baby’s ears?
Why Choose Baby Ear Piercing?
Parents choose to pierce their baby’s ears for a variety of reasons. Some parents pierce their baby’s ears because they believe it’s less painful at such a young age. Others pierce for more practical reasons – It solves gender identification problems in girls. Plus, strangers on the street won’t mistakenly assume a girl baby is actually a boy. The little diamond studs tell it all.
Since it only causes a few moments of pain for the baby, and your child will quickly forget it, some parents don’t see the harm in baby ear piercing.
There’s also a cultural element to baby ear piercing. In some cultures or communities, it’s customary for a baby girl’s ears to be pierced. Infant ear piercing may also be a family custom.
You may want to choose baby ear piercing, since older children might be more hesitant to allow you to clean the ears or change the earrings. Babies may not notice that the earrings are there, making it easier for you to care for the newly pierced ears.
Why Choose to Wait Before Piercing?
On the other hand, you may decide to wait to pierce your daughter’s ears.
Ear piercing is sometimes held off so that it can be a special memory for mother and daughter to share. It’s also a rite of passage for girls. There are parents who want the decision of ear piercing to be the child’s choice.
Another reason you might want to wait – your baby’s ears haven’t completely grown yet. Piercing a baby’s ear can cause the hole to look lopsided. Maybe it’s too close to her face, or too far away. Waiting for the ears to grow just makes common sense for some parents.
What’s a Good Age to Pierce Your Daughter’s Ears?
Since this is such a controversial topic, everyone has her own opinion. Some parents are perfectly fine with piercing their newborn baby’s ears. If there’s no medical reason to wait, they don’t see what the big deal is.
The official word from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is that parents should wait until their daughter is old enough to care for the ear piercing herself. Plus, the AAP doesn’t recommend you pierce your baby’s ears, since there is a higher risk of an infant accidentally swallowing the tiny earrings.
If you are dead set on piercing a baby’s ears, the AAP recommends that you try to wait until two weeks after your baby has her first tetanus shot (which occurs at two months). So, if you want your baby to have gold studs, wait until she’s at least two months old.
Some pediatricians do recommend that you wait until all rounds of tetanus are given. (Infants are given tetanus shots as part of their regular vaccination schedule at 2, 4, 6, and 15 months old.)
How Old Do Babies Have to Be to Get Their Ears Pierced?
If you’re dead set on getting your babies ears pierced, I would highly recommend that you wait until she is two months old (or older). By this time, her immune system may be strong enough to handle mild infections that may occur. And she should have already received her first round of vaccines. (The tetanus vaccine is really important. Just in case the ear piercing equipment isn’t sterilized properly.)
Talk to your pediatrician about whether he or she performs ear piercings. If not, call around and find an ear piercing business that has the right equipment to handle working with babies. See my safety tips below.
Safety Tips for Parents
If you decide to get your baby’s ears pierced, you’ll want to keep a few safety rules in mind.
First, not all ear-piercing businesses have the proper equipment or staff that is trained in working with babies and young children. For example, ear-piercing guns aren’t recommended for piercing babies’ ears, since they cannot be sterilized. If your child is pierced with a gun, there’s a higher risk for her to contract hepatitis or another type of infection.
Some pediatricians will pierce your baby’s ears at their office (usually with a sterilized needle), or they may give you a recommendation to someone they trust. However, there are pediatricians are totally against ear piercing in babies. So, when you ask the pediatrician for his advice, just be wary that his answer can go either way.
When having your baby’s ears pierced, make sure that round gold earrings are inserted. The gold (14 karat) will lower your baby’s risk of having an allergic reaction or inflammation. All parts of the earrings should be gold, including the backings.
How to Care for Your Baby’s Pierced Ears
Your baby will cry and wail after having her ears pierced. Just be aware that this will happen. After her ears are pierced, her body will sense that it is no longer whole and will try to heal the affected site. As a result, there may be some swelling, redness, or inflammation around the near gold stud.
Once you get home, it’s up to you to care for the newly pierced ears to reduce the risk of infection and to quicken the healing process.
- At least twice a day, make sure that you gently rotate the earrings and clean the front and back of her ear lobes with rubbing alcohol, an antiseptic product, or an antibiotic ointment.
- Do not remove the earrings for at least six weeks. This allows the ears to heal. After six weeks, you can change out the earrings. However, experts recommend that babies wear gold posts for the first year to prevent any infections.
- If the area around the piercing becomes red or tender, this is a sign of an infection and you should call your doctor right away.
Potential Complications from Ear Piercing in Babies
There are medical complications that may result from piercing your baby’s ears.
Infection – After you get your baby’s ears pierced, you’ll want to pay careful attention to any signs of infection. This is the most common problem that parents encounter. Your baby’s ear lobes can get infected if the equipment used was not sterile, if the earrings used have dirty posts, or if the earrings are clasped too tightly. You can avoid infections by cleaning your baby’s ears with rubbing alcohol or antibiotic ointment on a twice a day basis.
Always contact your doctor if your baby’s ear becomes red, there is pus around the piercing, or your baby develops a fever for no reason.
Allergic Reactions – Sometimes, an allergic reaction to the metals in the earring can cause the earlobe to become infected. Nickel is typically the most common culprit of allergic reactions. For this reason, it’s important that you choose nickel-free earrings. Surgical steel and 14 karat gold are the recommended metals for a baby’s ears.
Keloid Formation – After the ears are pierced, the body will try to heal the area of trauma. You might notice redness or swelling near the hole, as a result. Keloids occur when the body over-defends itself and goes overboard, leading to large scar tissue. Keloids are often removed with the help of surgery or medical treatment.
Keloids tend to be genetic, and African-Americans tend to be more prone to them. They can, however, affect all ethnicities.
Choking Hazard of Earrings – If you decide to get your baby’s ears pierced, it’s important that you choose earrings that don’t fall out easily. Earrings are one of the top items removed from children’s ears. The sharp posts can accidentally fall inside the ear lobe and need to be medically removed. There’s also a choking hazard of earrings. Your daughter may “lose” an earring, and you later discover that she has swallowed it.
Tearing of the Earlobe – When a young child wears dangling or hooped earrings, she’s at higher risk of tearing her earlobes during play. The earring can easily catch on something she plays with, and this can lead to tearing. To prevent this, make sure that you only use stud earrings for your baby or young child.
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
mine was done when i was 4 yrs old
I’d say go ahead and pierce the baby, she won’t feel a thing and it’s something reversible so no harm done, sometimes we overprotect our kids too much.
That’s right! Get the dog’s tail cut, get the cat de-sexed and get the kid’s ears pierced. She is not the family fucking pet, to be modified according to your whim. She is a human, who will be still living with it for about 30 years after you’ve gone! If you did it to your daughter I hope she sues you and the place that did it for the cost of restoring them if she doesn’t want her ear lobes spoiled.
Reversible my ass! There is nothing reversible about the trauma inflicted on a screaming baby that trusts you for comfort and safety. Also the scars left on their ears are not reversible. Scarring a child any other way is considered abuse and so should ear piercing a infant.
Thanks for the comment on bloggymoms! I will follow your blog! You can follow mine at http://lifeasamotherwifeandstudent.blogspot.com/
Thanks again!
First, I don’t think your’re crazy wanting your dd’s ears pierced. Admittedly, I know a lot of people have strong feelings when to pierce a child’s ear. “Let them decide” is being replaced by
parental decision when mommy intuition knows, “earlier is better” from either personal or
friend’s experiences of unpleasant childhood ear piercing. I think it just depends on your own personal choice whether or not you wish your baby or little girl to have pierced ears. Some feel perceived gender of their child is important while others find it a cultural tradition where all infant girls have pierced ears.
Second,I pierced our oldest daughter’s ears when she was six weeks old and our youngest at just
days old. We found an experienced individual where they specialized in infant piercing following
some suggestions from our ped who encouraged me to go ahead early.She had her dd’s done at
Piercing Pagoda and recommended them due to their professional training and experience with
infant ear piercing.
Third, my mom pierced my ears when I was 2 days old as and I’ve loved it….I think earrings on
little girls are adorable! If you don’t know how she’d look at any age, then hold up a pair of
your studs to your daughters ear and decide for yourself. Many moms including myself like the
look of earrings on babies and little girls for no specific reason, but like how light plays off a simple gold ball on a bald baby girl or small gold hoop poking through the hair of a toddler.
Fourth, cerebrally, as mothers of girls of all ages, we know it celebrates their femaleness and femininity. After all, they are little girls, right?
Lastly, if any moms are thinking about it as infanths, then their mommy intuition is telling you earlier is better to pierce your dd’s ears now.
If your on the fence, but can’t stop thinkg how cute your dd would look with little earrints, then write me an e-mail if you would like our ped’s suggestions for moms having their dd’s ears
pierced.
Amy
Amyswor@hotmail.com
Thank you, Amy for your thoughtful comment!
Can you please explain to me what DD is short for? I’ve never heard of that before…
DD – “Dear Daughter”
Thank you for explaining that to me! !!!
Gee, it’s good to see you gave her a choice in the matter! She is the one that will be living with it for about the next 90 years, not the family fucking pet to be modified according to your whim. What if she doesn’t want daggy holes through her ear lobes. If she doesn’t, I hope she sues you and the place that did it for the cost of restoring them after you treated her like the family pet and modified part of her according to your whim.
Peter, strong language here. Maybe you were treated like the family pet, however, ear piercing is not a life changing procedure, like the tail that wont grow back. The piercing, in case you did not know, closes over time if not used. I had my ears pierced when a few months, there is no sign of that. I sure wish there would be. Watch you language
True, it does close up, but the you can still see the entry hole, and feel the lump of skin or scar tissue through where it was. If you want to modify something to suit yourself, get a dog or a cat. Don’t do it to a human. That, to me is child abuse. She is the one who has to live with for about the next 90 years (about 30 more than you will be around), so it should be her choice NO ONE ELSES!
Actually, the holes don’t always close up. My mom took me to get my ears pierced when I was 9, although I wasn’t really sure I wanted it done. I did not like wearing earrings and only wore them occasionally for the next few years (mostly to get my mom off my back). I am now 36 and the holes are still there. There is no way I would do this to any child of mine. I also didn’t circumcise my son because I believe in leaving the choice to permanently alter one’s body for cosmetic reasons up to the actual person who is having the procedure done.
Hey, found you through Bloggy Moms. I’m over at http://intothedigitalnegative.wordpress.com/
I don’t think there is anything wrong with piercing an infants ears. If I have a daughter I plan on getting them done when she is an infant – before she can remember it.
As long as you take care of the piercings then I don’t see what the big deal is. They give you a cleaner or you can use a cotton swab with a little peroxide. Twist the stud like they say. If you have to you can take them out. There are far worse things that a parent can do to their child!
Hi! Thanks for the bloggymoms comment! Following you now and you can find me here:
http://www.smileandmamawithme.blogspot.com
By the way, I pierced my daughters ears at age 1 year and ended up taking them out soon after. She had ear infections terribly and since she had tubes in her ears, well, it was messy. Sorry if TMI!!! She’s 5-1/2 years now and I think now that we’ve waited (albeit the second time around) it will be fun because she’ll remember the occasion.
hi, tx for the note at bloggy mums. I’ve disconnected that by the way. As for piercings..I’ve two girls, but have no intention of getting their ears pierced anytime soon. I think I’ll leave that to them to decide.
Wow great post! Although I have 3 boys, every time I became pregnant (and hadn’t found out the sex yet..) this was a big question from my in-laws. They felt it was less painful to get them pierced at a very young age and that the holes wouldn’t close up so quickly when the baby got older. I felt that there wasn’t a lot of experienced people out there that specialize in piercing infants ears and I wasn’t going to let some 17 yr old mall worker put holes in my baby’s ears. If I ever do have a daughter I’ll probably wait until she is old enough to decide… even though I’m sure she’ll want to. For me it’s more of the principal behind the whole thing… I’d like her to earn piercing her ears just like anything else and let her see that it takes at least a little effort to get things you want in life. Maybe it’ll just be keeping her room clean for a few weeks or doing her chores, but even something small could help teach her that a little work goes a long way.
I just wanted to add that I don’t look down on anyone that pierces their babies ears, after all YOU are their Mother! =] If I happen to find a trusted place to pierce my baby’s ears (if I ever have a girl) I just might do it, you never know…. I do think it looks adorable so it might be hard to stick to my guns about this one!
Thanks for your great comment. I definitely think it’s up to the parents and what they think. In my family, the children’s ears are pierced early but I can see why other moms think its good to wait.
I pierced my daughters ears today and it wasn’t so bad, I was more upset than she was. She cried a little at first by time we left the store she was fine. That was around 5pm and I have yet to twist the earring for fear its too fresh to tamper with. I’ll wait at lease 24hrs to treat it with alcohol and twist the post 3x a day for about a month.
BTW she looks adorable! Can’t wait to for her first birthday so she can receive her first diamond studs!!!
A selfish decision on any mother’s part. I don’t care what “reason” you come up with, if the child is not old enough to tell you SHE wants her ears pierced, then you are doing it for you.. because YOU want her ears pierced. Pure selfishness. When she is old enough to ask for it, be a parent and teach her about the responsibility of caring for it and help her to remember how and when to do it. I’ve lost count of how many self absorbed mothers whine about how much it hurts them to see their baby cry when she gets shots or is in any other kind of pain, then they turn around and pierce her ears without her even having the ability to give her consent. VERY hypocritical. “So people will know she’s a girl”? Umm.. WHO CARES what gender strangers think your baby is. If the opinions of random strangers is so important to a mother… more important than the child’s comfort and freedom of making the decision themselves… then buy her a pink outfit and gather up her fuzz in a little bow – BAM, everyone will know it’s a girl. Or better yet.. if someone asks- simply tell them “HER name is ____”. There is simply no GOOD excuse to pierce your baby’s ears. Period. I chose to have mine done when I was in the 3rd grade. Back then, almost no one’s mother forced them to pierce their ears as a baby- almost all the girls made the choice themselves. I, along with 4 or 5 other friends decided to do it together. I got to choose the exact spot I wanted them pierced and my mom got me some earrings that I got to pick out. She discussed the responsibility I would have, and I took very good care of them until they were healed. All the other girls (which were the majority of girls my age) had their ears done around the same age, and I never heard a girl complain about infection or anything. She’s your child, and I guess that makes her your property and if you want to do it, she’s too little to stop you. But at least admit to yourself that you are doing it for you, not her.
Oh… also you are placing your baby’s safety at risk if you let some ditz at the mall do it with a gun. If you simply must force your daughter to have her ears done, go to a professional piercer and have them use a piercing needle – not a gun.
Ok I need some help here,please! My daughter is 12 months old, and as ALL girls in our family (part of our family back round) she had her years pierced 3 days ago. Everything had been going great, she would let me clean them 3 times a day like I was told to, by Claires in lakeside mall (michigan). Today while at the store someone told me “excuse me miss,did u lose an earring backing” at that moment my heart sank. So I instantly looked at bellas ears & noticed sure enough one missing, after a closer look the only piece that was still in her ear was the piece that actually is in ur ear that long gold piece, the face of the earring fell off . Even if I did put that backing back on,there was nothing to hold it into her ear. So now its 4 hours later, claires is closed, aswell as bellas newly peirced ear. What should I do now? How long will it take to totally heal up, to get it redone? Should I leave the other earring in? Tomorrow is a holiday so the mall will be closed,and I thought these “stud piercing earrings” were NOT supposted to come out easily,yet alone fall part while in my daughters ears??? She didn’t cry or fuss or pull or tug, nothing got stuck in her ear, it just fell part on its own. I spent the extra $$ to get what they (claires) call their “best of the best earring” I spent $75 ,which when in comes to my daughter its not the money I’m worried about, but when I’m told I’m paying for the best there is ,and the so called best quality and it falls out just outta the blue,that upsets me. I trusted them & basically trusted my life in their hands, my daughter is my world, what it she would have found it 1st & tried to eat it like she does everything right now, do u have any idea what that stud would have done to her mouth & belly if she swollowed it, omg I’m stressing myself out & making a short story into a long one! So anyways does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?thank u so much!
I happen to live around you, as the Lakeside mall is the closest available mall, and your biggest mistake was to take her there.
My opinion on the matter is wait until SHE is old enough to take care of them and knows the responsibility. A baby cannot consent to a piercing, and therefore shouldn’t be pierced. Babies are nasty little things anyway, they touch everything and to think that they won’t play with the earrings is just makes you a fool.
If you’re going to be selfish enough to pierce your daughter’s ears, I don’t give a damn if the ‘family tradition’ says you should, that her SEX, not gender because your gender can be the opposite of your sex organs, is obvious. if you’re going to pierce them, wait until she’s had her shots, because you risked her life doing otherwise, and take her to a professional, licensed body piercer who is willing and has experience with children and they’ll pierce her ear lobes with a hollow gauge needle.
Those saying this will hurt more, are highly mistaken. Because needles are very, very, VERY sharp and slide through the skin basically, while piercing guns PUSH through the skin and cause a lot of trauma to the piercing.
it will take 4 to 8 weeks for the piercing to heal, and soak the piercing in a saline solution, not rubbing alcohol, peroxide, bactine, Claire’s after care solution, ect. Saline soak recipes are easy to google. Do not rotate the piercing or pick the dead skin or crust around it, should it develop, off, let it fall off after soaking..
Honestly if you’re going to pierce your daughter’s ears, you must research! I shouldn’t have to say all of this and if you pierced your daughter’s ears, and didn’t know this stuff, shame on you, because you’re risking her life.
This stress and freaking out should’ve been enough (for me anyway) to realize piercing an infant’s ears was not a good idea. I’m totally against this and right up there with Emmy on why. I personally think its horrible and immoral regardless that its been going on for so long. So have abortions. Sacrificing fellow humans went on for many thousands of years and shockingly recent in remote cultures but that doesn’t make it right. No one will come near my daughters with a piercing needle until they are old enough to make that decision and understand the consequences and care needed. There is no beneficial gain for baby and if anything the disadvantages of possible infection, mis-piercing, choking, and more outweigh any reason for getting them done. I got sick and had to walk out of a local claire’s when I saw a man restraining his infant daughter as she screamed in fear and pain. I can only think it was a traumatic experience for her and I had NO respect for that man or anyone else who would force a poor, innocent baby to get their ears pierced to look “prettier”. Babies are a miracle far more gorgeous just the way they are and when I see a baby with her ears pierced, I don’t think “pretty”, I pity the poor thing because its something the parent “wanted”.
I personally think it is a really unfair thing to do. One could argue that it is against the childs human rights – they will never be able to undo what you have done to them (the keloid scarring (holes) in the ears is permanent). It’s really sad that a mother can think that their child is not beautiful in it’s own right without being pierced.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like ear piercings but I don’t think it’s fair to take an individuals right to choose away.
For that reason I think it’s something that needs greater legislation. There is a petition that you can sign here if you are a UK resident:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/18977
I find it humorous that some people speak of piercing infant’s ears as such an injustice to the baby. What about circumcision?! The AAP does not advocate circumcision for any health benefits and actually takes a neutral stance on the subject. The only reason circumcision can be unhealthy is if proper hygiene is not followed which can lead to issues. Talk about something unreversible where a baby has no choice!! And although I see the reasoning behind waiting for a child to ask to have her ears pierced I remember having mine done at 5 years and mine were done separately so after the first I was terrified to let them pierce the second lobe. I will have my daughter’s done at 5 months before she will remember the pain or irritation that may arise. Every parent is allowed to make their own decision but I think there are much worse things to do to your child than pierce her ears!
I have been a professional body piercer for 10 years now, and this subject is something I deal with almost daily. My stance on this is wait until they can ask for it and understand the process and potential consequence. Another thing that I would like to add to the risks of piercing guns is that they CAN rupture ear drums. If you make the decision to pierce your child’s ears, find a reputable professional body piercer in your area. I could go on all day about the risks of piercing guns for any piercing, as well as the jewelry inserted by them, but I will keep it (relatively) brief. I whole heartedly disagree with the use of typical stud earrings for piercing. They are often times too short to allow adequate room for swelling, the butterfly backs are an excellent location for bacteria to grow, and the materials are often unsuitable for piercings. I prefer using a fixed bead ring (bead stays attached) to start them off with, this jewelry is available in various diameters to allow a snug snag free fit. As for materials, I’m not a fan of 14k gold, it is quite often alloyed with nickel which will likely cause reactions. Spring for 18k solid gold without a stamp on any wearing surface. Although stamping is used to identify it’s grade of gold, it can cause issues with healing since it is not a smooth surface. I also suggest ASTM f138 316LVM surgical stainless steel, as well as ASTM f136 Ti6al4V eli titanium. I would most strongly suggest the titanium as it is an inert material assuming it is of the proper grade, and substantially lighter than steel or gold which will greatly reduce strain on healing tissue. Aftercare is also something to keep in mind. I don’t suggest alcohol, peroxide, or ointments for aftercare. The peroxide and alcohol actually kill off new forming skin cells and prolong the healing process. Ointments collect dust, dirt and other types of debris as well as increase risk of abcess. Sea salt compresses, or sprays are my preferred method. I am willing to share any information with anyone who is interested. Feel free to contact me at zthomas78@gmail.com with any questions you may have.
To the author; this was probably the best article I’ve come across on this subject in quite some time. Well written.
Thank you Blake for your insightful comment. Very good advice for parents who are interested in getting their babies ears pierced.
I am a mom of a almost 1 yr old little girl. I would LOVE to get my little one’s ears pierced. (mine were done at 6 months) but I cannot find any piercing artists that will do it before the age of 5. I have been told by almost everyone I’ve called about the terrible things that can happen when a gun is used, but that seems to be the only places that will do it. Also, I asked my pediatrician if she would- and she said that it’s not common for pediatricians to do that- especially in this area (Colorado). Any advice/tips on how to find someone (reputable) that will do it? If not, I guess we’re waiting until she’s 5.
I’m sorry you can’t find anyone to pierce your baby’s ears. Maybe you should call around at other pediatrician’s offices and see if anyone else does them. You could always call others out of state, maybe in a neighboring state near Colorado. I’m sorry about your trouble. You may have to wait until she’s five.
Gee, it’s good to see they are giving her a choice in the matter. She is the one that will be living with it for about the next 90 years. What if she doesn’t want daggy holes through her ears. If she doesn’t, I hope she sues you and the place that did it for the cost of restoring them.
oh peter, change the record! you been saying the same things all over this page! and as 4 the swearing on here. if u speak to people online like that, with that temper, i’d hate to think what YOU do to your child ! MY GIRL HAD HER EARS DONE AT 2 MONTHS! best way, she doesnt play with them, and they give her no jip at all!!!!!!!
Just so you all know, piercing guns cannot be sterilized properly. The best that can be done is a wipe down with an alcohol swab, which is not nearly enough to kill any pathogens living on/in the gun.
Piercing equipment needs to be sterilized in an autoclave, which heats the instruments to hospital sterility. What this means is that gun they use to pierce an infant’s ears can be harboring anything from the common cold to hepatitis C. Along with this, the conditions in which most children are pierced are deplorable. There’s no guarantee of sterility in a mall, at a Piercing Pagoda or Claire’s. They are hotbeds of infection.
Piercing guns also cause blunt force trauma to the ear. The end of the stud RIPS through the ear, causing uneven tearing and scarring. A needle is much less painful, and makes for easier maintenance of the piercing.
The cleaning solution they give you contains an ingredient which will actually make the healing process harder by drying the piercing out. Twisting the piercing doesn’t help it heal.
ABOVE ALL, if someone held you down, as an adult, and forced you to get your ears pierced, it would be assault. How is that any different from holding an infant down and forcing them to get their ears pierced?
Bottom line: Want your kid’s ears pierced? Wait until they’re old enough to want it, instead of forcing your choices on them. It’s bordering on assault. Go to a tattoo shop to get them done, they’ll heal quicker and there’s next to no chance of infection. They use surgical steel, guaranteed to be hypoallergenic.
And if your wouldn’t do it to the family pet, WHY WOULD YOU DO IT TO YOUR KID?
Sincerely, a ticked off Step-mom.
I was totally appalled when I read this article, you said things I’m too pissed to type. Well said.
P.S. I didn’t clip my dog’s tails and I won’t be forcing earrings on my kid.
But if I did, I wouldn’t be hitting up anywhere that uses a gun. Those things are foul and they don’t know what they are doing.
Hey, for those of you who are cometely against this, I would just like to point out one very small thing: have you ever in your entire life met a person who absolutely hated having peirced ears? I mean, I’ve never heard anyone say “god, I hate having this tiny little mark on my earlobe and screw my parents for doing this”. And, you’re all talking about how this is something they have to live with forever and stuff and how they don’t have a say, but then you’re going on about how it’s okay to allow a girl in the third grade to decide that she wants it done? I mean you’re going on about how they need to decide for themselves and understand the consequences, and you’re saying a seven year old understands those consequences? Supposedly we can even fully grasp the effects of our actions until our brains fully developed (I’ve heard that’s when we’re about 21 years old…?) so I don’t think that saying you should wait for a girl who’s seven years old to call the shots is a very valid argument… And honestly, why wouldn’t someone want peirced ears? In full honesty I cannot think of a single reason… My mom wanted to pierce my ears when I was an infant, but my dad wouldn’t let her, and in full honesty, I would have preferred that he had let her go ahead and do it, so I wouldn’t have to deal with all the drama of it later (I was in the 2nd grade and I kept freaking out about the pain, but I didn’t want to go home because I wanted little diamond studs so baddly). I’m sixteen by the way.
Those of you bashing mothers for getting their infant daughter’s ears pierced make me sick!!! You bad mouth, curse, accuse, and talk these caring women down as if you are perfect, as if you have never made a decision in your life that hasn’t affected someone besides yourself without first consulting the other person. You are all immature, and it saddens me that none of you can at least attempt to see things from our point of view. My mother pierced my ears when I was only 8 weeks old and I am so grateful she did so!!! If she chooses she does not like them she can take them out and the hole will close and
after a little time will show absolutely no evidence of there ever being a piercing! You all have your opinion and we have ours and everyone is entitled to that. You can say what u want but its really unfair and childish of you to claim we are abusing our children because that is not even close to the case! As for me I love my children more then anything in this world and would never in any way shape or form abuse my children!!!! I raise money, volunteer time, set up and run events to raise money for battered and abused children and women so maybe you are the ones with issues physical, emotional, or mental, but you really should keep your comments mature and in check!!!!
With that said I would like to get my 14 month old daughters ears pierced, does anyone have any suggestions as to where?
Some pediatricians will do it, and there are special ear piercing places that advertise that they pierce baby’s ears. I would Google it and read reviews. Plus, call around in your town.
“Others pierce for more practical reasons – It solves gender identification problems in girls. Plus, strangers on the street won’t mistakenly assume a girl baby is actually a boy. The little diamond studs tell it all.”
This is complete nonsense. Who says girls have to be ‘girly’? What if ‘she’s’ actually trans or genderqueer? You’d be damaging the child by forcing one particular gender identity upon her, especially from such a a young age. And who cares what others think? Does it matter if someone else you’ve never seen before and you’ll never see again doesn’t know what gender your baby is? Chances are, they won’t even care.
And many men/boys wear piercings in their ears (and other places) too, so I really don’t see how it even signifies gender.
Aside from that, babies don’t want their ears pierced, so why would you want to pierce them? When your 6 months old, you want food and sleep and to play with your parents, not to look fashionable. Children are not dolls, or fashion accessories, and should under no circumstances be treated as such. And not many people would let a young child choose to get a nose or lip piercing, so why ear piercings? I think that it’s pure selfishness on the parent’s part, unless the child is old enough to have considered why they want piercings, the risks, and to have clearly stated that they want the piercings. I personally feel that about thirteen is a good age to allow your kid to make these kinds of decisions – it shows trust in your child’s judgement and decision making skills, and gives them an amount of responsibility over their own body.
And in response to somebody’s comment above me about no-one ever complaining about being pierced at a young age, I know one person who had to have minor surgery due to a piercing done on her when she was about four, which she states that she didn’t really like at the time, and several other people who have had ear piercings that they never wanted because their parents pierced their ears when they were very young. Most took them out at some point, and only one of these people has re-pierced her ears.
I’m not saying that people who get their kids’ ears pierced don’t love and care for their children just as much as anyone else, I just dissagree with the practice and the reasons behind it.
Piercing your children’s ears is a choice to be made by parents. It is just important that in doing so, safety of your child must be your main concern. Thanks for sharing your delightful insight regarding this matter.
All the points made her are fine. I think it’s a parent’s decision. I also think that in our society and you are a girl, you will want, soon, to be able to ware earrings. If your ears are not pierced, it will be annoying and very hard to find earrings with clips and the clips hurt after a while. I think that when the babies are young it doesn’t hurt them as much (for some reason). My daughter was 8 when we had hers done and it was pretty painful and harder to take care of it (no infection, etc…) Took longer to heal as well. If it was to do over again, I would have had her ears pierce when she was a baby. As for me, I had them done in my 20s and had tons of problems. But again it’s a parent decision I think. Peace <3
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