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?!

Rebeccaslicker - couldn't agree more!

paxillin

Has anyone actually answered OP's question? Or have I missed it?

Anyone out there have their children's ears pierced and would say it's okay for nose/eyebrows/cheeks to be done, too, as a baby?

user7680

Personal choice??

Surely personal choice would be the baby/child deciding if / when they want it done, not the parent?!

I think it's actually a really good question OP.

But the parent's choice, not the baby's. I don't think this is something a parent should choose to have done to their child.

Stef no, aside from a few 'Its more common place to have ears done so not a big deal's, no one has actually answered the question because no one can

Some people like earrings on babies. Some people don't care either way. And some love the feeling of righteous indignation that they get when they see a child with pierced ears. They just love judging.

Personal choice??

It's not really a personal choice for the baby having it done though is it? Being that they can't decide for themselves personally!

I think it looks beyond tacky for babies (boys or girls) to have their ears pierced. However, as you say it's personal choice so when a baby can say 'mummy please can I have my ears pierced?' then I'll accept that it's their personal choice but until then I'll consider it someone forcing an unnecessary procedure onto a child with no medical reason which I think is out of order.

What a daft question.

Here's some more similar questions that sound just as daft:

If you smack your child on the bottom, why not in the face..
If you use a naughty step, why not just lock them in their rooms and throw away the key..
If you eat meat, why not just thump a cow in passing..

duh!

It's not daft it's actually perfectly valid and still no one has given a valid answer.

Wonder why that is.

It's not a daft question at all, hopefully it will make some parents think twice before inflicting this practice on their baby or toddler.

What can be the answer to the question? Because the tongue would be worst? What a great justification.

Because of social norms.

Things could be worse. This is what used to happen in Mexico, back in the day

In a process called trepanning, Maya parents flattened a newborn baby’s soft skull so the forehead sloped up and backward. Two boards were attached to the days-old baby’s head at an angle to press against the forehead. Maya parents increased the pressure of the boards over several days until the baby’s forehead sloped and the head was elongated. Experts once thought this deformation was limited to the nobility, but later evidence revealed that 90 percent of the Maya skulls examined were elongated. A sloping forehead was a sign of being a Maya

The Maya found slightly crossed eyes beautiful. To ensure their babies had this desirable feature, Maya parents made a headband for their infants and hung a piece of stone from a string between the baby’s eyes, hoping that the child’s eyes would cross.

You can't piece their noses because of snot. You can't pierce their eyebrows because baby eyebrows are kind of invisible and it's too easy to be off with the hole. You can't piece their tongue because it's a choking hazard.

But you can pierce their ears because you think it looks nice and it is a gift to the eternally judgy. Win win.

Do I get a prize for answering correctly OP?

There is no 'valid' answer that's why.

There's parents who think it's ok. Parents who don't and that's all there is to it surely...

Dione that's true. Very practical reasons there

DioneTheDiabolist 😂 definitely an A+ for effort! 😉

many people don't see an issue with female mutilation. Funnily enough, I do.

I do not agree that there is a degree on piercing or mutilating part of somebody's body. Doing something because it's "normal" is bloody dangerous, and should be questioned and fought when it doesn't feel right.

There are no health benefit whatsoever in piercing somebody's ears.
Even if it wasn't super chavy, it would still be wrong.

You wouldn't pierce their nose because it could affect their breathing when they are feeding and because any piercing in cartilage can become infected and kill the tissue which may then require surgery. With the tongue the ball can come off (DH has swallowed a few) plus it can cause serious complications if a vein is caught or its fiddled with too much after piercing, and when first pierced the tongue swells up huge. Eyebrow piercings grow out and can cause nerve damage.

Ear lobes are comparatively safe so not as bigger deal as other piercings, but I wouldn't pierce a babies ears because mine went manky as a toddler because I wouldn't let mum clean or change them and I have a scar where I caught one of them on something and ripped it out. I love piercings but only on people old enough to make their own decision and look after it properly.

I had mine done when I was 18mths old. I don’t remember it of course. It was the fashion back in the 80’s apparently My mum is a great parent though and it’s not like she has ever tried to traumatise me with anything!
I personally didnt feel like it was right for me to do as a parent until my daughter was old enough to decide she wanted them done by herself. Although that was a whole drama so it probably would have been easier to do them when she was a baby! Plus mine will never heal over no matter how long I go without wearing earrings.
Ear piercings really aren’t painful for very long at all. No more than a few hours and that’s mainly just a hot feeling. My tongue, belly and nose hurt for longer afterwards and they definitely seemed at higher risk of infection.
I wouldn’t personally judge either way. I get why some people are against it but I don’t think it’s that much of a deal if parents are for it.

Put it another way:

It is mandatory to pierce the ear of everyone who is arrested by the police.

How does that sound? If it's ok to do it on your baby, surely it's not a big deal on an adult either?

Because it's a cultural norm.

My mum got mine done when I was a baby because it's a "normal" piercing, plus apparently I always got mistaken for a boy.

If she hadn't, I would have got them done age 8 and would have been scared AF and remembered the pain. This way I remember nothing, everybody wins!

Oh and I have no other piercings - I wanted them but she was of the opinion that earlobe is OK, nothing else till I'm 18. Then when I was 18 I didn't want to get anything else pierced anymore.