Ear Piercings on Babies

[PlayboyMegan]

I was at the mall today when I noticed a lady about to pierce this little girls ears. She couldn't have been more than 6months old. What is your opinion on people getting their children's ears pierced as a baby? How old were you when you had your done? What age should they be allowed to get their ears pierced?

 

[Gen]

I got mine pierced when I was seven, but I had been begging my mom for years to do it.

I don't have a strong opinion on when kids should be able to do it, as long as it's done safely and either the parent cleans them or the kid is old enough to. I don't personally see a problem with piercing a baby's ears but I'm not a parent so maybe I would with my own kids. Some kids might not want pierced ears when they're older but they could always just take them out.

 

[Sevrin]

On a scale of 1 to getting the tip of your wiener cut off, ear piercing doesn't seem so bad.

 

[AmberCutie]

I think it looks absolutely precious on little baby ears. I actually wished my mom had gotten mine done when I was a baby, when you're too young to remember or really know what's going on. I did it when I was around 6 or 7 and it was terrifying and traumatic!

 

[JickyJuly]

I passionately HATE this for a number of reasons.

1. Those ear guns at the mall cannot be properly sterilized. The people ramming them into kids' ears haven't been properly trained, and unlike a piercing done with a hollow needle, those guns press metal through the ear traumatically instead of making a space for the earring that can heal properly. If an adult wants to go the cheap route, and get a mall piercing, that's their business. But, a parent's most important job is to protect their child. It's an uneducated and potentially dangerous choice health-wise.

2. Most moms want this done to keep their girls from being mistaken for boys. At baby age, who the fuck cares if a stranger doesn't know which genitals your kid is packing.

3. Pain for the sake of cultural norms should be an adult decision. (Before anyone asks, yes, I'm also against circumcision.) Inflicting pain on a little girl so she looks cute to your friends is selfish. There's no way a baby cares whether her ears have bling or not. It's something the parent does for him/herself. Selfish and parenting should not mix.

4. Who knows if your kid is going to want those holes in 10 years?! And after a decade, they're stuck for sure.

That said, my trashy mom pierced my ears at 6 months old. God forbid the good people of Flint, Michigan think we were too poor for bling. I'm just lucky she didn't do it herself.

 

[PlayboyMegan]

I think you should be 4 or older to be able to make the decision to get your ears pierced. I was 6 when I had mine done and I'm thankful my mom let me choose.

 

[KylieJacobs]

I had mine done around the age of 4, but I don't really wear earrings now. I remember at the age how much it hurt. My mom had mine done by a trusted beautician.

I had my daughter's done around the same age, it was her choice to have it done. She's 9 now, and loves them!

I don't see a problem with having a babies ears pierced around 6 months as long as it's done some place sanitary, and by someone that's trained. That way they don't remember it like Amber said, however it is nice to have the child make the choice too when they are a bit older. If the child really doesn't like the earrings when they're older, the holes will normally grow shut.

 

[Kitty_Blue]

I think any body mutilations including circumcision should be done with the individual's consent...

I had mine pierced in the second grade (which I wanted) and my left cartilage 3 days before my 16th birthday.

 

[LilyEvans]

I passionately HATE this for a number of reasons.

1. Those ear guns at the mall cannot be properly sterilized. The people ramming them into kids' ears haven't been properly trained, and unlike a piercing done with a hollow needle, those guns press metal through the ear traumatically instead of making a space for the earring that can heal properly. If an adult wants to go the cheap route, and get a mall piercing, that's their business. But, a parent's most important job is to protect their child. It's an uneducated and potentially dangerous choice health-wise.

2. Most moms want this done to keep their girls from being mistaken for boys. At baby age, who the fuck cares if a stranger doesn't know which genitals your kid is packing.

3. Pain for the sake of cultural norms should be an adult decision. (Before anyone asks, yes, I'm also against circumcision.) Inflicting pain on a little girl so she looks cute to your friends is selfish. There's no way a baby cares whether her ears have bling or not. It's something the parent does for him/herself. Selfish and parenting should not mix.

4. Who knows if your kid is going to want those holes in 10 years?! And after a decade, they're stuck for sure.

That said, my trashy mom pierced my ears at 6 months old. God forbid the good people of Flint, Michigan think we were too poor for bling. I'm just lucky she didn't do it herself.

I agree with you on all points. I begged and begged my mom to pierce my ears when I was nine and she let me get them done at Claire's, in a mall. Of course it was done by a 15 year old with no piercing education who had probably never heard of blood-borne pathogens... :roll: Now 14 years later, the holes in my ears are completely uneven and won't ever close again (when I was younger I went several years without wearing earrings hoping they would heal shut so I could have them redone professionally.)

Those guns are nasty. I'm lucky I didn't end up with hepatitis or something.

 

[Deleted member 8603]

Those guns are horrible. I automatically think negative things when moms take their kids to mall places for them.

I think, at the very least, if you're going to do it, don't let some underpaid, undertrained claire's employee who fucks with $2 jewelry all day give your child a miniature form of blunt force trauma with an unsterilized needle.


Also,if you're someone who doesn't have many piercings, I don't think you should do it to your child, either.
If you don't know how it feels and know how to properly deal with it and take care of it, you have no place shoving holes in your kid's body.


Jicky makes a lot of good points on it.

I don't feel as stongly about it being wrong because we do MUCH worse things to kids, but I still think its a bit mean.

 

[BBellvue]

I had mine gunned at walmart when I was five. I loved them and was overjoyed but I wish I hadn't been allowed to because they're uneven and it's made stretching my ears difficult (which is why they aren't stretched anymore)

 

[SaffronBurke]

I think I was about a year when mine were done, probably at the mall. My mom figured it would be best to do it when I was too young to remember, and she'd heard that it heals quicker if done young - not sure of the truth of that. At 15, I decided that I wanted a second hole in each lobe, which has been super troublesome. They've closed up and needed re-pierced SO many times, while I've never had a problem with the older ones.

 

[LioraVox]

I had my first ear piercings as a baby. And honestly since I grew up with them, it doesn't make a difference to me being an adult. They are just there. I even forget that I'm actually wearing earrings in my first hole sometimes. lol

The other two holes I had to wait until I was in high school. Somewhere between 10-11th grade, because those are "uncommon" places.

And I will most likely pierce my daughters ears, strong chance its the superficial " I think she'll look cute" but I don't care, she's my future kid.

And to add. I used to be one of those mall piercers. (claire's actually, haha). No I didn't have "official" training, but in order to pierce I did have to practice marking a spot and, shadowing piercers and piercing multiples time before I got to actually pierce anyone. The store I worked at took it very seriously, and I would even have to make sure the needle of the earring wasn't chipped or damaged before piercing someone. So although a person isn't being pierced in a tattoo shop, some mall places do try to give them a quality pierce job.

Edit : I've had all 3 of my holes done at a mall. And none of them have given me problems.

 

[yossarian]

A baby wearing earrings is the creepiest thing. Why not get her a tattoo as well, since you're already taking away her right to determine what permanent alterations she does to her body?

 

[LioraVox]

I get the point your guys are making. But at the same time, it can go either way. My kid could be mad about me piercing their ears or they won't care, because to them - they've always had them pierced. It will just be a natural thing to them.

As we grow up we become aware of whats taking away someones rights to make a decision, and a person does have the right to having final say over how their body should/will be modified. But really. It's an ear piercing. Something that isn't possibly going to affect my child's professional career, unlike a tattoo.

 

[Rose]

I'm not anti ear piercings, but if you're going to do it, get it done by a professional with sterilized equipment and not with one of those dumb guns.

 

[Deleted member 8603]

Its wonderful that Claire's and shops like that try to train people to pierce well.
But there are TONS of reasons its a bad idea to get piercings there.
http://jewelry.about.com/od/bodyjewelry/a/piercing_guns.htm
Here are a few.

None of this is the fault of the people who work in the store, but the store's policies itself.
Those guns are outdated and really shouldn't be used at all any more.

I just think that if you're going to make a permanent change to someone else's body, you should at the very least pay extra for someone who is certified and has trained and devoted their entire career to making sure it goes well.

I've heard dozens of people say they can't wear earrings in their holes that were pierced with them because they swell and hurt.
A friend of mine actually had to take a hospital trip to have his ear cut open and the front of an earring removed because the standard sized post was too small and caused it to embed in his earlobe during healing. He was told that was not uncommon.

 

[LilyEvans]

I get the point your guys are making. But at the same time, it can go either way. My kid could be mad about me piercing their ears or they won't care, because to them - they've always had them pierced. It will just be a natural thing to them.

As we grow up we become aware of whats taking away someones rights to make a decision, and a person does have the right to having final say over how their body should/will be modified. But really. It's an ear piercing. Something that isn't possibly going to affect my child's professional career, unlike a tattoo.

This is true, but at the same time I wish my mom had put her foot down and told me 'no'. That's a parent's job. I wish I had not been allowed to have my ears pierced at age nine, because they are crooked and now they always will be. Maybe it's because the girl doing it didn't know better; maybe it's because my ears continued to grow as I got older. Either way I was too young for that. I have since had second lobe piercings done, which I love because they were placed correctly on my (very small) ear lobes. Of course I still would have gotten my ears pierced as an adult, but by that point I would know to go to a professional and they probably would be better placed on my ears.

I don't have super strong feelings about it either (I think circumcision and other things are much worse) but I won't be doing it to my kids. They can make the decision for themselves when they are old enough-- probably 16, since that's usually the age kids are allowed to get certain piercings in a proper piercing shop with adult consent.

 

[curvyredhead]

I had my pierced at 6 months.

My peditriction (who is also a close family friend and doctor to all kids in my family for the last 3 decades) did it. He did it in office.

I am crazy happy she did this.

I have no real strong opinions on it as far as other parents and children go.

 

[LuckySmiles]

i think it's silly because babies pull on things, their own ears included and they're more likely to get infected. Also they usually end up uneven by the time your ears are adult sized.

I got my ears pierced for the first time(my sister took me) when I was 4 and they got infected because I wasn't really old enough to know what to do with them. I had to take them out and redo them when I was 8.

After that I used to get my second hole 3rd and 4th.. by the time I was 16 because a friend of mine worked at a jewelry store and I'd just pop in while I was bored. BUT when I was 14 I got my cartilidge pierced i think at claire's with those little guns and only got one ear done. Since I had to purchase the pair of earrings they each came in a disposable piercer gun. And gave me the other earring to go home with in the disposable gun. :shock:

I took that home and thought I could like open my own piercing studio at 14 :lol: even though it was a one time use gun I tried to use it to pierce my own lobes again. I got one. I did the other one also myself with a needle :? But I had to take them out and get them redone because they didn't line up right. Random. who gives those little guns to a 14 year old?

 

[Lintilla]

Where I lived when I was old enough to first start noticing or wanting something like that, piercings on young girls was not something you'd ever see--except on Indian girls (a large part of the population of that particular suburb), which I understand is a cultural/traditional thing, but I don't know much about that. It would be abnormal to see an Indian baby who didn't have pierced ears.

Other than those girls, I think most of my friends had them done between 2nd and 4th grade. I had mine done somewhere in there, as well. As soon as my mom felt that I had a good enough understanding of everything, and how to take care of them/clean them. Which is exactly when I think any parent should allow it.

 

[VeeValencia]

I'm Mexican so it's always been odd to me that so many people don't pierce their daughters ears when they're babies. It is so common for Hispanic families to do this. I had mine done when I was a new born and they ended up moving so a few months later I had them redone (my grandmother from Mexico took me the first time without my mom knowing). I was way too young but that extra hole doesn't really bother me. I really don't care.

I would say about 80% of the women/girls that I know had their ears pierced as babies and none have ever mentioned hating it or resenting their families because of it.

I remember asking my mother once why we get our ears pierced so young and she told me that it's because they make the assumption that girls are going to want to pierce their ears anyway so might as well do it when they won't remember the pain. That always kind of made sense to me. She did admit to me that she also found it kind of odd but it was pretty much expected.

My sister got hers pierced when she was a year old, my friend recently took her daughter at 9 months. It's VERY common.

Now having shared all that I will add that I will most likely not be piercing my future daughter's ears. I love the way it looks but I don't want to make the assumption that that's what she would want. Traditional Mexican values have very strict gender roles and that's not something I'm down with. To me making that assumption just isn't fair.

I still might decide to do it (I don't know what future me is thinking) and if I did I would not get them done at a mall. I know better than my family did.

 

[Diana Blake]

When I worked managing a jewelry store I was always totally confused about all the baby jewelry we carried. Necklaces, rings, bracelets and lots and lots of earrings. But...It really is a cultural tradition for a lot of people. Even if it's not cultural it easily becomes familial tradition in just one or two generations. All it takes is grandma saying "Well, mine were done at that age and so were yours..." It's kind of crazy how the human brain accepts things as normal on the basis of "just because" but it happens.

I had mine pierced when I was six. Piercing fucking pagoda in the mall. My left lobe is permanently fucked because the gun didn't go all the way through the first time so the lady decided to do it again right then and there so there's a partial tunnel inside the tissue that fills with dead skin and bacteria if I actually wear earrings and then my ear gets all swollen and pink. Very gross.

If Baby Nerd decides she wants piercings sometime down the line I'm not going to say no but I'm definitely taking her to a piercing shop. Probably the same place I got my septum and eyebrow done. Depending on her age we're also going to practice soaking her ears in salt water so I know she knows how and why she should. Of course, I'm also the mom that won't be able to say shit when she wants funny colored hair or a belly ring.

I think education is the biggest block for parents. Piercing shops sort of have a bad name. Your average suburban mom probably has a very media influenced idea of what a piercing shop looks like: Full of mean looking tattooed and pierced bad asses. Motor cycle gangs circling the block, half naked drunk chicks getting "Fuck Daddy" tattooed on their asses just a few feet away. They have no idea how clean, calm and kind most of the piercers and patrons are in an actual shop. To them Claire's probably seems like the safer option. Until there's more education available and people start talking about this issue, this dangerous assembly line type piercing is going to be the norm for most young girls.

 

[gonegirl4]

When I worked managing a jewelry store I was always totally confused about all the baby jewelry we carried. Necklaces, rings, bracelets and lots and lots of earrings. But...It really is a cultural tradition for a lot of people. Even if it's not cultural it easily becomes familial tradition in just one or two generations. All it takes is grandma saying "Well, mine were done at that age and so were yours..." It's kind of crazy how the human brain accepts things as normal on the basis of "just because" but it happens.

I had mine pierced when I was six. Piercing fucking pagoda in the mall. My left lobe is permanently fucked because the gun didn't go all the way through the first time so the lady decided to do it again right then and there so there's a partial tunnel inside the tissue that fills with dead skin and bacteria if I actually wear earrings and then my ear gets all swollen and pink. Very gross.

If Baby Nerd decides she wants piercings sometime down the line I'm not going to say no but I'm definitely taking her to a piercing shop. Probably the same place I got my septum and eyebrow done. Depending on her age we're also going to practice soaking her ears in salt water so I know she knows how and why she should. Of course, I'm also the mom that won't be able to say shit when she wants funny colored hair or a belly ring.

I think education is the biggest block for parents. Piercing shops sort of have a bad name. Your average suburban mom probably has a very media influenced idea of what a piercing shop looks like: Full of mean looking tattooed and pierced bad asses. Motor cycle gangs circling the block, half naked drunk chicks getting "Fuck Daddy" tattooed on their asses just a few feet away. They have no idea how clean, calm and kind most of the piercers and patrons are in an actual shop. To them Claire's probably seems like the safer option. Until there's more education available and people start talking about this issue, this dangerous assembly line type piercing is going to be the norm for most young girls.

I agree with you on all points!
you want to put holes through your child's ears but you won't take them somewhere where the people are trained in piercing because they look too alternative so instead you let a lady at the pharmacy hold a gun to your baby's head? like are you kidding me?!
those guns should be banned, they can cause so many problems! and the aftercare they give is usually "here have some alcohol to spray on it" because putting an irritant repetitively on a wound is a great idea right? those poor babies need some non iodized salt water soaks for their ears stat!

 

[Fay_Galore]

I was three years old
apparently I've been nagging about it for months because my neighbour kid had them, she was 5 or so, and I totally looked up to her, haha.
I was so proud when I had them! and looking at old pictures I think it's deadly cute. I for one am happy my mum took me to get my ears pierced :]

I'm totally okay with this of course, as long as it's done safely ánd the kid can handle the 'pain' (it's more of a discomfort really, nothing like falling off your bike and scraping your knees)


If I ever have kids and they want to get their ears pierced at whatever age I'd do it. (I would get them a bike too )

 

[Anonymous]

I got mine pierced in like, 4th grade after pestering my mom for a few weeks.
Got'em done in the mall, at Claire's, I cried and cried and they got infected and I took'em out.

Then I tried again at home in high school like 5 times with a chunk of ice, some 70% alcohol, and a sewing needle.
I wasn't too bright.

THEN I got them done AGAIN when I was like 18, at a real actual piercing place, with a size 14 needle to discourage them growing in.
Hahahaha they got super infected. No idea how, I always only touched with super clean hands to wash and rotate them, but whatever it happened. At that point I gave up. I don't really care about having them pierced anymore. Tattoos are totally cooler than ear piercings :thumbleft: