Poor wee screaming baby forced to get her ears pierced!

[Rumpel]

I heard a wee baby screaming today and passed by Claire's shitey accessories to see a LO of about 12 months, bright red and hysterical having her ears pierced whilst her Mother just stood like a doughball watching. It made me red and and very, very sad.

I think piercing babies ears should be outlawed in this country. No freedom of choice for baby is there?

Not because I think it is chavy (which I do) but because it is not the child's choice, they have more chance of infection, scarring, tearing, hole closing up etc.

The more times you get your ears pierced = the more scar tissue= more complications. I had a client once whose lobes were split into 3 different pieces because of this - please I implore you - let it be your child's choice.

That should say that minimum age to peirce is 3 months (am breast feeding at same time...)

And had to have consent under 16 and if looked under 21 had to have ID.

Much better than many other places......

Kid on my lap aint having her ears pierced for as long as possible,,,, she has such perfect little ears...

This is all too common i'm afraid.

In both senses of the word.

I think it should be absolutely prohibited for under 5s. Bollocks to cultural reasons. 'cultural reasons' always means 'let's not make a fuss about what foreigners do because they only do it to women and children and women and children are not as important as men'.

A kid of 5 or so is old enough to at least have some say in the matter (and perhaps want peirced ears) and care for them with a reasonable degree of sense.

Yes - good point. They aren't allowed them at school anyway.

madamez 'bollocks to cultural reasons' is exactly what i thought. what possible cultural justification is there to deliberately cause your child pain?

I know it is done in Spain, usually before the child is a month old - it is pretty routine there.
However, I intend to wait until my dd (assuming Turtle is a dd and not a ds!) is old enough to ask me she wants hers pierced.

My DD had her ears pierced at about 15months, I didn't really give it much consideration whenher nan asked me if she could get them done, she had done at claires, cried for about 10seconds, then was fine.
She is now 6 and for the last couple years has loved that she has her ears pierced and can wear studs.
Apparently it is the safest time to get a childs ear peirced, when they are small, because they are less likely to get any type of infection or pull them out etc.
However, I doubt I would have any future daughters ear's pierced.

there was a thread on this last week

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2724/416749

Because she didn't want her daughter to look like an old woman without them!!!

Was she going to put heavy weights on and stretch them too becuase that's what old womens' ears look like.

I had my ears pierced when I was 15 at H Samuels and my Mum had to sign a permission form because until I was 16 it was classed as child abuse.
It seems daft that a little slip of paper stops it being child abuse.

I think children should be old enough to do the cleaning and care routines themselves before they can have them pierced. By that age they should be able to decide whether they want it done or not too.

madamez - very very very well said.

It is for cultural reasons that girls in some countries are circumcized/clitoris cut out and vaginas sewn. Absolutley disgusting. Cultural reasons used as a reason for abuse.

Spartans used to kill any small male child for any small 'seformity' for cultural reasons.

Hitler killed jews for 'cultural' reasons

According to dp it is still legal for English people to shoot scottish people on a sunday with a bow and arrow for cultural reasons.

Awen - you'd need to catch us first!

Here in Spain they do it to nearly all (female) babies. I hate it, but more than cultural I think they do it so other people can distinguish whether it's a girl or boy..my niece DIDN'T get hers done and people are just as shocked as you all are about GETTING it done!

lol rumpel - not much chance of that. feel like a weeble here

Seems both cruel and unnecessary at that age.

Maybe we should all write to the company to request they review their policy?

The only question would be would people get their LO's ears pierced elsewhere in less clean places if Claires didn't do it? Not sure.

FWIW I am very against. My DD's can have their ears pierced when they are old enough to understand it will hurt at the time and for a few days afterwards and that they need to be prepared to help look after them.

Though I probably should add that they will still need to get round their dad first!

How is it that you're no longer allowed to smack your child but you can take them to a shop and have holes put in their ears, why don't they get the belly button and eye brow done while they're there? looks like abuse, sounds like abuse because it is abuse.

My dd asked me when she was about 6 if she could her ears pierced but I told she would have to wait until she was 16. She is now 15 and told me that although when she was little she couldn't wait to be 16 so she could have her ears pierced now she doesn't want to. (She is scared of needles).

Think ear piercing in kids is very dodgy - also had loads of kids (i.e. under...er.. 12 ish) coming in with peirced bellies, noses and ears done with guns. Nightmare.

Think the age should be raised for all piercing but then I worry that it would then be 'cool' to self pierce if not legal to do it in (you'd hope) a safer clean environment.

What about a petition/lobby for the goverment to change the law? Might sound far fetched but if no-one ever does anything nothing gets done. Does anyone know how to do this?

online government petitions here

I'd sign!

Thanks LT. I have checked out your link and there are already 2 open petitions on this subject. The first is to outlaw ear piercing in the under 10's and the second is for the under 2's. The petitions close in July and April 2008 respectively. I have signed and I would appeal to anyone who feels strongly about this issue to do so too!

Have signed too am bumping for more signatures.

bUMP