Babies & Toddlers With Pierced Ears

Maybe. I don't like them but I'm not completely traumatised - I've had other piercings since but no tattoos. Had to inject myself with blood thinners throughout two pregnancies as well with no issues. I imagine many people - ears pierced young or not - feel similarly to me.

For what it's worth I haven't pierced my own DD's (4) ears. I'm not snobbish about it and she's cute enough as she is - to be honest piercing them never even crossed my mind when she was a baby (even with my own experience). I really just did not even consider it as an option/think to do it at all. I also hadn't thought to judge others that did make that decision.

She'd never let me now but if she asks me at any point in the future when she can make her own mind up about it, I won't stop her unless there's good reason to.

I think PPs comments of it being barbaric and uncultured are over-the-top.

I think it's barbaric and uncultured

I said this at the family dinner table a few years ago, but with even more disdain and bells and whistles, and MIL promptly turned to tell me she had pierced her daughter's ears at 3 months old... 😳

Have you ever wondered if your issues with needles comes from having your ears pierced so young?

Even in Spain it’s moving away from being a cultural norm, nor that other people doing something should make it more acceptable anyway.

Yes, I don't get the 'it's just a class/snob thing' argument, when entire countries (or the vast majority) do something by default. Surely nobody believes that the whole of Spain consists of just one 'low class' of people?

I completely agree with you on the bodily autonomy point: some people go from the pov of wanting to do it, and figuring that it's supposedly not that harmful - often finding something clearly extremely harmful to compare it favourably with, and so asking why they shouldn't do it; whilst others of us who do believe in bodily autonomy and personal agency would be instantly wondering why on earth we should make that decision for somebody else, when there's no actual need for or benefit to it in any way, and they can freely make that choice for themselves when they're older.

It really isn’t a class thing though. It is about whether you believe your child has autonomy over their body and should be their decision or that her you feel you have the right to make that decision. I absolutely felt I had no right to make their decision and my DD chose as a teen to get them done. She didn’t to before then. That was her choice.

I'm not talking about the pain (or lack thereof) in this case; rather picking up on the theme that basic actions that may be arguably possible to align in a fundamentally similar way can have obvious intentions and outcomes that are poles apart in reality.

Wouldn't feel the surgeon doing it though as you get anaesthetic first. So very different

It's really common in some cultures.

Really, it is such a minor thing. Of all the decisions we make for our kids.

It means into class differences as well which I believe is why people are so nasty about it.

Quite. It's like saying that a violent attacker stabbing you in the street is no different from a skilled surgeon performing life-saving surgery on you, on the grounds that they both cut into your body with a sharp knife.

I've not said otherwise and am not disputing that pain is pain. But you can't separate the physical pain from the context in which it's inflicted when discussing whether a procedure is justified. You also can't assume the pain is identical in duration, intensity or experience simply because both involve a needle.

Your comments make you sound incredibly naive. Your arguments for piercing infant’s ears are - it hurts as much as a vaccine and - they might get bullied for not having their ears pierced.
🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I wouldn't have been upset if it had been done as baby on me though

My friends daughter stood out at school and was teased for not having pierced ears. English parents but girl born and went to school in Spain. So their " not going to do something to change my child" made her an outlier in nursery and school

I had mine pierced when I was one. Don't remember the pain at all and didn't think I'd been abused but I can see why others would think differently.

I don't like needles so no doubt would have chickened out if left to my decision later in life.

It was a blessing as a sporty person from teenage into adulthood as no danger of any holes closing up so didn't have to faff around covering anything.

Love wearing earrings now.

Unclench There's not really any need to be so bothered if other people get their kids ears pierced or not.

I had to to learn the whole Catechism before my first communion to be allowed to get pierced ears. So was maybe 7. Felt jealous that many of my friends already had theirs done

I have worn studs for about 47 years and they've never caused me discomfort so that might be a " you" thing

And tbh i only remember a minute or 2 of pain when I had my ears pierced.

I was answering the comment about causing pain. Nothing to do with " justification " or reasons Merely the physical pain . But for some reason people don't see that and are full of " yeah buts"

Pain is pain. A baby won't feel any different whether it's through ear piercing or vaccinations

For me it’s not snobbishness. It is simply the fact that I don’t own my child’s body and therefore I should not be making any decisions on their bodily autonomy and any modifications to them unless they are medically necessary.

Vaccinations are lifesaving treatment, ear piercing is cosmetic.
These are two completely different things

I don't think anyone uses the argument that they forget the pain quickly as a justification for vaccination. You vaccinate children because you don't want them to get sick unnecessarily. There's no benefit to early ear piercing.

And if your children were unhappy about your choice? You can't take it back.

And no, "just take them out" isn't a good answer. Years after finally taking them out my ears are still marked with the semi healed dots.
Semi healed dots which just remind me that my parents wanted me to have holes in my ears to be able to stick a piece of metal into them just because I was born a girl. Which is a rather stupid reason when you think about it.

It is a source of resentment, because my parents, similar to many other parents who make the same choice, are rather defensive about it and don't seem able to accept that it was a bad call.

My ears were pierced as a newborn. Afaik no complications. It doesn't really matter.

Saying something is tantamount to something else is about recognising that there are serious similarities in the underlying issues, not claiming they're identical. And dismissing people's concerns as snobbishness doesn't really address the point they're making.