Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Just saw a 4 month old baby get her ears pierced - why????

216 replies

TambaTheDragonSlayer · 18/01/2006 15:48

Why on earth would you get your babies ears pierced???

Woman walks into Claires Acessories with her 16 week old baby and asks how old they have to be to get her ears done. Answer 4 months but must have had her jabs. Ok mom replies, lets do it.

Poor screaming baby has pain inflicted on her uneccesarily so mum can show off her oh so fashoinable baby.

Why????

I was so [shocked]

I could never cause my baby undue pain and discomfort. What makes people do this??

OP posts:
Blandmum · 18/01/2006 21:11

Why make a choice for a child, that will stay with the child, unless it is for utterly compelling reasons?

Ironically I can understand circumcision of boys for religious reasons....If I believed in god I would want my child to be part of the congregation IYSWIM.

Buy why put holes in ears just for decoration? The child can make that decision later (I did at 15)

Mercy · 18/01/2006 21:21

I agree to a large extent with HRqoq . Cultural differences also apply to British/Western lifestyles too. Western ways of child rearing an also be seen as 'odd', eg, not 'co-sleeping'.

I'm still takenby some of the comments I've seen here

Mercy · 18/01/2006 21:24

martianbishop, ear piercing for some isn't jsut about decoration - you know that!

Angeliz · 18/01/2006 21:24

What is it then Mercy?
(AS i honestly don't know)

HRHQueenOfQuelNoel · 18/01/2006 21:28

"Why make a choice for a child, that will stay with the child,"

ahh but unlike circumsision (any any sort) it doesn't have to stay with the child - no-one can tell looking at tme now that I used to have my ears pierced

Off to work now.

FrannytheQuinoaEater · 18/01/2006 21:29

Dp hasn't worn earrings since he was a teenager but the holes are still there. They will never heal up now, it is scar tissue.

Mercy · 18/01/2006 21:46

Angeliz, a very basic explanation is that some who believe in spirits feel that wearing jewellery bestows upon them the wisdom or fortune of a particular spirit, for others it's a symbol of wealth, for others it's their dowry etc. eg, native American indians, sailors, romany people

A very simplistic version I know but I'm too tired to go into more depth!

hana · 18/01/2006 21:49

dh also had two holes in one ear, hasn't worn earrings for about 20 years and they are still there. dd tries to put my earrings in , v funny when she does

Mercy · 18/01/2006 21:51

Gold (or even yellow) is also very symbolic in many cultures and has been for centuries.

cyan · 18/01/2006 22:42

I personally don't like seeing a baby having their ears pierced, i saw it in Claires in Brent X and thought it was hideous. The baby was in complete distress.
I know that in some cultures it is well accpeted but i just don't like the look if it. My mum wanted me to have mine done when I was a baby at 6 months! My dad refused point blank! Sorry to sound snobbish, I think it's a bit chavvy.

bannana · 18/01/2006 22:48

my sister asked my mum to go with her when her dd had jabs as she didnt like to see her dd crying and in pain then the week after took her to get her ears pierced she was 5 months old

Blandmum · 19/01/2006 06:36

Mercy, with all due respect, I doubt that many people taking their babies into Claire's Accessories are doing it for symbolic reasons. They are doing it because theu think it looks nice, it is a fasion statement, not a religious or cultural belief.

I live in the East midlands and there are very few Native Ameican, Romanies or saliors where I live....or any non caucasians for that matter.

Angeliz · 19/01/2006 09:25

Thanks for that Mercy.
I'm withg Martianbishop in that, most people i see here with babies peirced are not doing it for any reason other than their own vanity.

I still think it's wrong whatever they are doing it for anyway, some things just are wrong, whatever they are done 'because' of, (IMO) but thankls for explaining.

Mercy · 19/01/2006 09:40

Martianbishop, I take your point re the Claire's accessories scenario!

I just wanted to point out to a few posters on this thread that for some people there is a cultural significance for ear-piercing etc, not to condemn it out of hand. Many other symbols have been diulted/tranlsated into 'fashion' too.

serenity · 19/01/2006 10:05

A few of my good friends have had their DD's ears pierced as babies, and none of them are cruel or doing it for fashion reasons (ie baby as an accessory). Their reasoning is that it is more than likely that their DDs will want to have their ears pierced at some stage. They feel that it makes more sense to do it when they are small, when it can be over and done with quickly and it's going to be difficult for them to fiddle with it. I can see the reasoning behind this - my cousin had hers done at 12, and fiddled so much that they got seriously infected and had to be drained surgically (bluergh) - I just prefer to leave the decision to do it to DD.

Angeliz · 19/01/2006 10:08

serenity, sorry i can't understand your friends resoning at all!
I think they're just justifying ot to themselves.

Kelly1978 · 19/01/2006 10:16

I agree with serenity. I got my dd's ears doen for the same reason. She never had any infection or problem ar all. And dd cried less with that than she did with jabs. It was a sound more of surprise than anything, she didn't cry at at all. Likening it to torture is a bit much!

Also creoles pull out very easily if they have loose fastenings. My dd had creoles when she was a baby - very small ones. Now she rarely wears earrings, as she can't have them in for PE, so I don't let her have them in school at all. She keeps them for special occassions.

tortoiseshell · 19/01/2006 10:16

Can't understand anyone getting their baby's ears pierced. I do have pierced ears, but had them done at 19! Definitely think child should be old enough to make a MATURE decision! I did used to wear ear-rings as a teenager, but my friend and I made our own clip/screw on ones from a fab bead shop in our town, and they looked just as nice as pierced ones.

CaptainDippy · 19/01/2006 10:20

Because the parents are cruel and heartless - ARGH!!! I HATE seeing little teenys with pierced ears. It smacks of abuse to me. However, it is sometimes a cultural thing and i do respect that.

lanismum · 19/01/2006 10:47

so everyone who has their babies ears pierced are cruel heartless child abusers? i think this thread is a teeny bit judgemental, surely its up to the individual what they do with their own baby, i dont think that people who pierce their babies should have to justify it by saying its for religious/cultural reasons, maybe its just what they feel looks nice.

lockets · 19/01/2006 10:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Mytwopenceworth · 19/01/2006 11:02

it's reading like your baby is your property to do what you like with. you are hurting them cos you think a sparkly plug in their ear will look nice. look nice to who? to the 4 month old baby? nope. to the parent. "oooh doesnt she look sweet with this spike thru her ear"

lanismum · 19/01/2006 11:32

obviously you are one of the people that doesnt think it looks nice, but many many people do,whos to say whos right? i wouldnt judge anyone for any choice they make regarding their children, unless its abusive, by abusive i mean real abuse, not a pair of earrings.

pinkmagic1 · 19/01/2006 12:01

I personally think it looks really common and is not neccasary. Maybe people cover it up saying that it is a cultural thing but at the end of the day it boils down to vanity.
I once saw a little baby boy, no older than 9 months with a diamond stud in his ear of the type David Beckham wears.

legacy · 19/01/2006 12:08

Abuse: "To hurt or injure physically by maltreatment"

Ear-piercing is most certainly painful, distressing and unnecessary for children who are not making the choice for themselves.

It all adds up to abuse in my book....

You say, "who's to say who's right.." - a sad state of affairs then, if no one worried and campaigned for the safety of children. Children do NOT belong to parents who free to mutilate them/ subject them to pain, as they see fit. We all have a moral responsibility to ensure their protection of children from their (misguided?) parents.