For those who pierce their baby's ears...

[Username7654321]

Would you see it as okay to pierce their nose? Eyebrow? Tongue? Why is it okay to stab a needle through the ear lobe, when presumably most people would be horrified by any other piercing on a baby?!

If a woman posted that her partner walked up to her and punched holes in her earlobes without warning, what do you think the reaction on MN would be? - exactly!

But there are other countries/cultures where piercing (such as the nose) is acceptable. It's just different cultural norms.

My mother is from a Spanish West Indies background. My ears were pierced before I was a fortnight old. Funnily enough I don't remember it; and it hasn't scarred me for life.

And who are you to tell people why they can't do something so innocuous? You might want to climb down from your high horse. It gets chilly up there.

And I think it's offensive to suggest a parent piercing their child's ear is setting them up to accept a lifetime of sexual and physical abuse
This

all the way up the ear piercings are not done in most cultures that pierce infants ears. that is why op.

I think it's ok to judge as long as you are aware that the ear piercing parents consider you equally slack. if you dont like that a bit less judging of things that happen to not be part of white British middle class culture would be advisable.

If I lie down with studs in my ears, it's really uncomfortable - I assume it would be the same for a baby.

Well said.

A baby spends a lot of time lying down. It's not fair. It's bound to be uncomfortable. The little butterflies usually dig into the back of the ear and if you're led down it makes it worse.
I expect some parents have no common sense.

Unless it's for medical reasons, ie a vaccination, there is absolutely no need to stick needles and attach sharp shiny objects to your child's anatomy.

Funnily enough I don't remember it;

Thankfully you don't, as I'm sure you were in agony when it happened.
As another poster said, just because a baby is "too young to remember" doesn't make it okay as where is the line drawn for it?!

banana how do you know it hasn't scarred you for life? how do you know that just because you don't feel any negative effects no one else will?

And why is it usually baby girls that have their ears pierced? Is it to 'label' them as a girl? In case someone makes a mistake?
I thought we'd moved on from all that old fashioned, bollocks.

Ummmmgogo that's fine - judge away! Isn't that basically what MN is for? 😉

As a trained piercer, I don't agree with piercing babies or small children's ears (and refused to do it when I did this for a living) but I've learnt that there really is no telling people who want to do it, you could tell them till the cows come home and explain your reasons till you're blue in the face and they just won't listen.

Oh, this again

Makes a change from another thread bitching about Meghan.

I think anyone can be raped or physically abused. And I think it's offensive to suggest a parent piercing their child's ear is setting them up to accept a lifetime of sexual and physical abuse, aside from the fact that you have no evidence to prove a link.

I’m not saying any one child who has their ears pierced as a baby will end up abused and raped. I’m saying that there is always a lower side of a scale that can be built up to the more serious side being compared on this thread. I’m saying you have to be pretty ignorant to see it as black and white as ‘well it’s not as bad as these terrible things, so why even mention it’. The negative ways certain groups are treated in society come in many forms, they’re not all big and horrific. Putting standards of beauty on a child who has no say on how their bodies are modified sets a precedent for the whole of society, and it snowballs from there.

And I think it's offensive to suggest a parent piercing their child's ear is setting them up to accept a lifetime of sexual and physical abuse

This isn't it at all....

A SOCIETY that allows adults to permanently modify children's bodies to meet their own aesthetic values is a SOCIETY that is permissive of sexual and physical abuse.

If we drew a clear line in the sand on the topic of bodily autonomy and respect for children (and yes specifically women) then that would help make our society a significantly better place.

I suspect this fashion will disappear eventually. It is becoming increasing frown upon to punish children, slaps etc are banned. Many behaviour that were completely acceptable in the past are judged outrageous nowadays.

I bet piercing a baby for cosmetic reasons will be shocking in not so many years from now.

You cannot play the "cultural card" to impose such a thing. That would open the door to trying to justify the horrible mutilations that some girls still have to go through, even in our country.

To compare piercing with immunisations, you must tell us what the benefits are of the former! Still waiting to hear a reason.

I think it's a horrible thing to do to a baby for 'fashion'.

It hurts.
It's uncomfortable to sleep on.
They can get infected.
They can get ripped out if caught (happened to my friend)

Why people are allowed to do this to babies is beyond me. We should be past these things by now.

Personal choice??

I agree, by piercing your babies ears, you are essentially mutilating them without their consent. It’s a horrendous thing to do to a baby. They may grow up to hate those holes in their ears.

I thought we'd moved on from all that old fashioned, bollocks.

Oh they are doing - haven’t you seen those awful headbands you can get for baby girls these days. You know, because you need to put a massive flower on their little heads just to prove they’re a pretty girl and not a boy.

My DD wanted them done for her 5th birthday. This is apparently ALL she wanted and although I did try to put her off she was still adamant she had them done.

So I took her, she had them done, and she found out I wasn’t lying and that it bloody really hurts and she then wished she never had them done... I’m now hoping it’s put her off having anymore for life (although, she loves them now )

I'd like to see piercings of any kind banned for under 16s. Then the child is old enough to undedrstand what they are doing to their own body.

I don't know what the difference is to some people OP but you are right in that it's just the same as piercings anywhere else. Quite why people can't love their babies for who they are but feel the need to accessorise them is beyond me.

My sons had a Prince Albert from birth. Hope that answers it.

It's not a patch on circumcision is it? That will permanently change a boy's penis, how it looks, how sensitive it is, etc. But because that's done to tiny babies for religious reasons, it's supposedly ok!

lol op! I suppose a bit of judging does make the world go round 0

Pax... 😮😏😬😁🤣😂