piercing babys ears?

ashleynicholee93

my daughter is almoat 6 months old and im thinking about getting her ears pierced sometime in the next couple months. i had mine done at 3 months and my mom said i didnt tug on them or anything but im curious if any one has gotten their LO's done and had a bad outcome?

kdjudd

I've heard of a few bad experiences with infections and things like that, but I think it is pretty rare. I had my ears pierced at 4 months old and mine were fine. I have chosen not to get my daughters done this early though. She pulls on her ears constantly and I want the opportunity to make it a special day when she is older!

526SadieSadie

Personally, I think it looks really tacky when a baby has pierced ears - especially baby boys.

Even though it'll be pain they'll remember, I think it's better to wait until they ask for earrings and can take care of the piercing themselves.  It was my 8th birthday treat from my parents and I felt very grown up when they decided I could get them done.

joshandpanda

526SadieSadie:

I think it's better to wait until they ask for earrings and can take care of the piercing themselves.  It was my 8th birthday treat from my parents and I felt very grown up when they decided I could get them done.

ditto... I got mine in like 3rd or 4th grade... and once they got infected for me not taking care of them properly, I had to take them out... it was my own fault

 

fryrat

My friend's daughter would eat them. even the ones that screw on, she would fiddle with them constantly, eventually being able to remove them and then they would disappear. only to come out in the diaper. I will not be piercing until they know how to take care of them, and fully understand "don't touch!"

filxoxo

DD didn't start playing with her ears until she was about 6 months. Now she tugs them when she is tired. I was in limbo whether I wanted to get her ears pierced and now I don't really think I can/should.

DiveFrog

To each his own, but I don't feel like I should be making decisions about putting holes in my daughter's ears.  I will wait until she is old enough to understand what having pierced ears means, and asks for them herself. She also will need to be both capable of, and responsible enough to take care of pierced ears.

 

skibunny59

I'm Cuban so in my culture it is normal for baby girls to have their ears pierced.      I had mine pierced when I was 2 months old.  I always thought I wanted DD's ears pierced.  I was on the fence about it for awhile and kept changing my mind.  Finally when she was 6 months old we got it done by a pedi in town.  (Our own pedi doesn't do them.)  The actual piercing experience didn't go that badly.  She barely cried.

They looked cute and all but I wish I never got them done.  They were not easy to clean.  She would move her head around and fight me every time I would clean them.  Her right earlobe had problems from the beginning.  It never really healed and got infected a few times.  One night she actually caught the back of her earring on my husband's sweater.  She screamed.  DH heard her scream in pain and was so afraid her earring had ripped through her earlobe.  She was ok but it was scary.

After the third time her ear got infected, I was so frustrated and tired of dealing with it that I just took the stupid earrings out and decided to just let them heal up.  She's 10.5 months now.  Her right hole (This is the one we kept having problems with) closed.  There is a tiny tiny lump in her earlobe (I guess scar tissue) but it is closed and healed.  Her left hole is still open.

We are planning on getting them repierced when she is 5 or 6.  If her left hole never closes than that makes it a little easier because we only have to pierce one ear then.  Based on my experience I would wait but I also know many many people who have pierced their baby's ears with no issues.  The one thing I will say is please don't go to your pedi.  I thought going to the pedi would be cleaner and safer than the mall.  They use a piercing gun at the pedi just like in the mall.  It's not any cleaner or more sterile.  And people who do it at the mall probably have WAY more experience doing it than a pedi.  I am thoroughly convinced that the reason we had so many problems with DD's right earlobe is because it wasn't pierced correctly.  The left earlobe which was always fine was pierced by the pedi while the right earlobe was pierced by the nurse (they were done at the same time).  It's actually best to avoid piercing guns altogether.  When we get DD's redone I want it done with a needle not a piercing gun.  I don't mean to scare you, just wanted to give you my experience.  I really regret getting DD's done.

gitiggr

526SadieSadie:

Personally, I think it looks really tacky when a baby has pierced ears especially baby boys.
Even though it'll be pain they'll remember, I think it's better to wait until they ask for earrings and can take care of the piercing themselves.nbsp; It was my 8th birthday treat from my parents and I felt very grown up when they decided I could get them done.

Why on earth would anyone get their son's ears pierced?? That's terrible!

ashleynicholee93

She already tugs on her ears so I think we're gonna wait til she's a little older so it will be easier to clean and she hopefully won't mess with them.

GeePee

We got DDs ears pierced when she was 4 months old. She barely cried for less than a second then started playing with her toy and forgot all about it. She's never tugged at them and they never got infected.

Every baby is different,  do whatever your gut tells you.