Anyone pierce their child's ears after 18 mos?

franciscaz

Rachel is a real extreme girly girl (much much more than I ever was as a child).  Our nanny brought up piercing her ears and I think it is a good idea b/c of who Rachel is.  I think now might not be a good time though b/c she isn't like a docile newborn.  So did anyone pierce their child's ears later than 18 mos? What was that like?  

cmh06

I'm going to let DD get her ears pierced, but I'm going to wait until she's 5 or 6.  That is if she wants to get them pierced.  She sometimes comments on mine and she got some fake earrings earlier this week and really liked them, otherwise she really hasn't taken a big interest in them.

Ciarrai

I pierced DD#1's at age 2 and DD#2's at 4-6 (?) months.  (I did both on the same day.)  It was so much easier, of course, dealing with DD#2 than DD#1.  Like you said, DD#1 is a total girly girl and REALLY wanted earrings.  DH wanted to wait for her to ask for them but she started "asking" (pretending to put them on her ears, etc.) before she could talk.  I finally talked him into it shortly after her second birthday.  I never saw her mess with them and she was really great about letting us clean them, but one side grew out funny.  It's possible it just happened and she never touched it.  I don't know.  Either way, less than 6 months later, it was much too low on her ear lobe.  We gave her the option of letting both close up and waiting until she was older or having it re-pierced knowing it would hurt again (as much as a two-year-old can understand that).  She decided to have it re-pierced.  She barely cried the first time or the second time.  She got her sucker and we picked out a prize at the store and were done. 

 She loves her earrings (as does DD#2) and always has.  She asks to change them out for special occasions to match her outfit or the event (like she has tiny Mickeys for Disney, etc.).  Make sure you go somewhere that does both ears at the same time.  The won't do that on babies so DD#2 had to do each ear separately, but they did DD#1's at the same time.  They also said they were going to count to 3, but pierced it on 2 so she wasn't expecting it.  It really was easy and I'm really glad I did it.  That said, given the choice, I'd much prefer piercing it as a tiny baby or an older girl like 6 or 7 over a 2-year-old.  But it worked out for us.

HarrietNJMommy

DD#1 asked to get her ears pierced when she was a little over 4. I told her that on her 5th birthday, if she still wanted, we would go and get her ears pierced. So, we did it when she turned 5. 

It was hard since DD#1 NEEDS to know exactly what's going on every single step of the way. She was afraid when they marked her ears, and then she FREAKED OUT after they pierced her one ear. I had to hold her down for the second ear. It seemed like such torture, but it wasn't so bad since I know my DD#1. As soon as it was done, she was admiring her earrings.

DD#2 wants her ears pierced, but I told her she has to wait until her 5th birthday.

FWIW, I really thought that they would be older when they asked - like 8 or 9....... 

franciscaz

I really appreciate the response.  I was always in the "let's wait" camp till she was eight (that is a big milestone in our culture) but she is showing so much interest... Glad to know I'm not crazy.  If we do get it done it will be by her pediatrician at the her office.  Hmm... lot to think about!  Still on the fence.  Part of me still wants to wait till she is around 4 but part of me thinks it might actually be easier now.

bim38106

Kylie has been asking me to get her ears pierced. I tell her she can, but that it would be like getting a shot in each ear. Then I ask her if she thinks she's ready for that. Every time, she goes "hmm...maybe I'll wait a little bit".

I've always thought a good time to get it done is when they can take care of cleaning their ears themselves...but obviously it will be a while before that! For us, I'm guessing it'll be done around Kylie's 4th or 5th b-day.

ppants

DD is a very girlie girl also.  After she turned three she kept asking and telling me she wanted it done.  After 3 mo of near daily asking and explaining to her that it hurts for a second and they poke a hole in her ear, she told me "I'm big enough now". 

We took her to the dr's office knowing they'd do a good job, but they only do one side at a time.  The nurse showed her the gun and made the noise.  DD sat perfectly while she marked her ears and did the 1st one.  She was quiet for 3 seconds because she screaming.  She didn't want to get the second one done.  Thankfully there was another nurse to help and once she calmed down it was fine.

As far as after care, I turned them daily and made sure they got soapy in the bathtub.  DD is 5 1/2 now and we've never changed her earrings.  It freaks her out. 

lmdbww

Thanks for asking this, i've been wondering too. 

Mommy2BMichelle

We have said that we were going to wait for it to be her idea and glad we did.

Friends came to visit and their 4 year old just got hers pierced.  My 3y7m DD started to ask the questions, We explained (as did friends daughter) that it will hurt a bit, she'd have to clean them, etc. and she still wanted to get them pierced.

We searched for a place that would do both ears at the same time so we didn't end up leaving with 1 ear pierced!  Dad and I were SO nervous, but she sat there looking brave as could be - they clicked the gun and ... SHE DIDN'T FLINCH!  I wasn't even even sure if it worked as she didn't even say a word or have a tear in her eye.  That was until we got almost in the car then I think it started to sting a bit and there were some tears.  Dad wanted to do the cleaning for the 1st couple days and it wasn't fun, when I saw that he practically was using 1/2 the bottle each time I could see why! 

So other than the 1st few days of cleaning, its been fine.  I'm glad we waited until she asked though as I think she would've had a hard time dealing with everything if it was something that I wanted to do vs her.