To not understand why you'd get your baby's ears pierced?

[Slh122]

On an fb group I'm on there's a post about someone wanting to get her 4 month old's ears pierced. Apparently me asking why she would want to put her baby through pain and at risk of infection makes a 'judgemental bitch'.
AIBU to really not understand piercing a baby's ears?

YANBU to not understand why anyone would do it, but YABU for starting another thread on the subject of babies/children having their ears pierced. This subject has been the subject of many previous threads - I wonder if it's possible for them to be merged in some way?

Does it matter how many times this has been done?? If it really bothers you the best thing to do is to not post on any future threads on this topic.

They do look awful and people judge. Not a good lesson to learn as a child that you need to add accessories to make people like you or to be more pretty.

I know a woman whose ears were pierced when she was a very young child and she has always resented it - not for the pain at the time but because she doesn't want piercings but never had a choice. She never wears earrings and hates seeing the holes in her ears.

I'm a body piercer and I work in a tattoo studio. There are no laws regarding the age at which children can be pierced, it's a considerable grey area (although it's generally accepted that genital/female nipple piercings are only carried out on over 18s).

I personally will not pierce babies. From a professional and personal perspective, I prefer informed consent from the person receiving the piercing (lot of Ps there!), not just the parent. The piercing is also at risk of growing out over time due to the very small size of a baby's earlobes.

I refuse to use guns for the same reasons outlined by previous posters (cannot be autoclave sterilised, causes blunt force trauma), and pierce solely with single use needles and titanium body jewellery as opposed to butterfly-backed studs made from cheap metal alloys, to reduce the chances of any allergic reaction.

For the record, neither of my children are pierced and nor will they be, until they are old enough to accept responsibility for any piercings and their aftercare, and have a full understanding of the piercing process. If other parents wish to have their childrens' ears pierced, that's up to them, but I do wish they'd make enquiries with professional body piercers instead of just going to places like Claire's, whose 'work' I end up fixing on a depressingly regular basis.

Great post Another, you sound very professional and conscientious.

Agree - excellent post Another

Top post Another. Like your stance

I thought I'd have gotten my baby's done when she was young but I felt bad! She has tiny ear lobes too. She's nearly 10 months and they're still not done! Other family members got them done when babies were 3 months! Each to they're own but

Personally it's not something I would do. I think that it's unnecessary pain and doesn't look nice but each to their own i suppose

SirChenjin: 'Does it matter how many times this has been done?? If it really bothers you the best thing to do is to not post on any future threads on this topic.'
Fair point. It's not that the multiple thread things bothers me, more that I sometimes wonder about the motives of people starting threads about a subject that consistently causes such heated discussion. It never ends well.

Never understood why anyone thinks babies need extra holes or why people think it looks nice.

Takes allsorts I suppose.

What is with photoing babies with temp tatoos to post on social media sites too???

I personally don't like seeing a baby with pierced ears however I do know of someone that did get their 6 month old daughters ears pierced as she was no fed up of people thinking she was a boy.
Although I would not do it myself, I could see how annoyed she was, when my daughter was a baby people were constantly saying he when we were out and about with the pushchair, this was even though she looked like a girl in every way including being dressed head to toe in pink.
I did ask someone why they thought she was a he and they said it was because there was the colour navy on the pushchair. (it was the most neutral colour pushchair you could get at the time.)

but getting your baby's ears pierced because total strangers are nosy bigmouthed idiots seems rather extreme!

For me, I think ear piercing shows a disregard for another human beings body autonomy.

"Its my child, I can do what I want" vs "They are her ears, she can do what she wants."

A child is not an extension of your own body, their bodies are their own and they deserve ultimate say over their own ears.