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.

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Signed!

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This makes me so angry. How could any mother chose to mutilate her baby or young child. It sickens me. Why don't they get them tattoed at the same time?
I would love to hear what the mothers of pierced babies have to say in their defence, or maybe they're too scared to admit to it.

jesus that is terrible.

i can never understand why anyone would do that to their little child, of any age..surely wait til they are horrible teenagers and can be in charge of their own mutilation?

( i have 3 holes in one ear, 2 in the other, my nose pierced on both sides, and my belly button. All from when i was a teen. not pretty!)

Signed with great pleasure

Another bump

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I've got/had 13 piercings - but only as an adult when I was free to make my OWN choice.
I like them, but some are redundant now - that's life. Bf with nipple piercings just didn't appeal

It's horrid. Should be banned entirely to peuirce say preschoolers. Would prefer it for even older TBH too. Luckily DD just isn't interested. None of her friends have pierced ears, they aren't allowed them for school, so no brainer - no point.

I am Spanish, I had them done as a baby (a month or so) and don't consider myself abused in any sense, but thanks for the concern. I liked wearing earrings when I was a teenager and in my 20s, and I know I would never have had my ears pierced at that age.
Pieced ears in Spain are not a synonym of "chav" or "lower class" etc. It is done across the board. It is in your perception that they look odd or horrible or disgusting, like it is in my perception that things like, for example, allowing dogs but not children with their parents in a public place (like a bar) is outrageous. But I do appreciate our cultures are very different.

bonitaMia - it is not the percieved class or look as such that is my main worry, but the pain inflicted on such a young baby who has no say in it. And having your ears peierced does hurt - I had mine done again as an adult and it hurt. So it must hurt a little one too, and they don't have the comprehension to understand why it is happening to them.

if the reason is that it hurts, it hurts at any age. If it is considered mutilation, then it is at any age. Why allow it from 5, 12, 18 years on?

years old, even

I suppose for me the distinction would come with the age of comprehension and full understanding. So as a baby there is none. For me I don't think a 5 year old is capable of full comprehension when deciding it. Maybe at 10-11 years old though that comprehension and understanding of the pain v fashion of wearing earings would be there, and thy'd then be old enough to decide for themselves.

hmmm cultural reasons my arse!
my ds2 has choosen to stretch one of his ears to 6mm and has a discreet silver earing in it and the school went totally berserk insisting that he takes it out immediatly and it shouldnt be put in again.......well from the way i see it thats just part of british culture in 2007,this is what some young people in britain do in 2007 just as other cultures have ears and noses pierced and are allowed them in school for "cultural" reasons why should ds be any different???

bonitaMia - thanks for adding your experience. I'm not interested in any class perceptions. My concern is that it hurts and that inflicting pain and risk of infection (however slight) unecessarily on a young child is wrong. I think that by the time the child reaches 10 years old or so, they can understand that it will hurt and they can then choose whether or not to "mutilate" (!!!) themselves. Piercing the ears of children too young to be able to make an informed choice about whether they wish to subject themselves to any pain or discomfort IMO is wrong and unecessary. Glad you're happy with yours though! Just out of interest do you have a child with pierced ears?

Hi mummyofgirls, no, my dd hasn't got pierced ears. She was born here in the UK, my dh is English, and I am not that fussed about dd wearing studs, so it's something so out of the ordinary in the UK and so obviously disliked that I never considered doing. However, as I said it is done routinely in Spain, traditionally very soon after birth, either by a doctor,a midwife or in your local pharmacy. To be honest, I had never met anyone who thought it was such an issue, let alone consider it "bad parenting". I must tell my friends in Spain just to see their faces! I won't post their comments here though.

My dd had hers pierced when she was 6 - it was totally her choice, and she knew it was going to hurt. But she was fine bless her!!

Where I used to live little toddlers used to have them horrid creole earrings in - YUK!!!

Bonita, just because it's done routinely doesn't make it the right thing to do though....it has already been said on here, that culturally a lot of mutilations are done...and this would start with ear piercing, go to male circumcision and then there are all those more outlandish ones, like female mutilation, etc...!
It used to be thought that Baby's do not feel pain (and this was, as I mentioned earlier extendet to any person with a learning disability and it wouldn't surpirsie me if it was also extendet to those with a physical difference, too....as not that long ago it was pretty much assumed that they had no intelligence neither...the basic assumption must have been along the lines, no intelligence, therefore you can't feel....which, of course we realise is not true at all), however it has been discovered that Baby's can feel pain, and whilst you may have no conscience recollection, this does not mean that it didn't effect you.
MUst say, I do also wonder if ear piercing has any adverse effects, with all those acupuncture/acupressure points that are, apparently, within the earlobe?

Oh, Bonita you also mention the abuse factor....as in the pain being the abuse...and that then there should be no difference in age then...abuse being abuse....well, I suppose once you are an adult you can make the decision yourself , if you would want to put pain upon yourself.Therefore then it would NOT be abuse.

We all end up having to do certain things that cause our DC pain now and again (vaccinations, dental treatment, other kinds of necessary medical treatment), sometimes even when they are screaming and pleading with us not to. But superstition, the fact taht it 'looks nice' or 'everyone else does it' are not good enough reasons to inflict pain on babies and toddlers, whether it's ear piercing or genital mutilation (which is, by the way, mutilation whether or not you call it circumcision and whichever sex it's done to. ANd I don;t give a fck how old and traditional a custom it is.)

Now I have pierced ears. I had them pierced when I was 12 after months of nagging as my mother had said Iwould have to wait till I was 16. It hurt, but I was prepared for it to hurt and prepared for the hassle of cleaning the studs etc. And I have known younger children (6, 8, etc) be just as keen to have their ears done, and though kids of that age need a bit of parental supervision over the care and cleaning etc they are at least old enough to chose to do it. Toddlers and babies are not.

My 10yo wanted her tongue pierced. We managed to hold her off until she was 11. She had a lovely jewel put in her tongue.

She now wants a tattoo for Xmas.

What can I say? I am the child of a barbaric country