If your DC had their ears pierced under the age of 2...

[doodlydooo]

How was it?

DC is 18 months and for about 9 months now she loves earrings etc. I feel like she is too young to have her ears pierced and won't understand and might tug on them. I wasn't planning on getting her ears pierced until she was about 5 really. But my mum said my sister and I had our ears pierced around the age of 2. SIL also had her ears pierced as a baby.

Could you get little stick on ones for her to play with instead?

@WiserOlderElf

I don’t agree with that poster at all. I still think ‘it’s cultural’ is a shit excuse, and cultural practices should be challenged if they are causing harm and no benefit.

^this.

Accepting ^anything* on the basis of 'culture' is dangerous. So many people across the world have been harmed, damaged and killed by 'cultural' practices.

Perhaps people should stop blindly defending something that makes no sense.

She is 18 months, you don't give babies that age small things to play with.

Fair enough. If she’s too young for stick on ones then she’s also too young for real ones. Surely she could pull one out and swallow that too.

A friend pierced all her children’s ears when they were under 1 and had big gold hoops put in them. Yuk.

I had mine pierced at 18 months. I think it’s pretty horrific. And as I have grown to be an adult the piercings aren’t in a great place, though they looked fine when I was teen.

My mum thought it was fine at the time, But she was also pretty horrified that she had done it years later. it’s more common in my dads culture but he wasn’t happy about it at all.

In all honesty, I think ear piercing should be like body piercings and for over 18s.

Except that’s not what I said. I said I don’t agree with the poster who said it was chavvy, or that it’s reminiscent of ‘big fat gypsy’ (I don’t know what that is). I agree her response was tinged with racism.
I still don’t think that ‘it’s cultural’ is a good excuse for inflicting harm on a baby for no benefit, and I believe that cultural practices should be challenged if they are harmful.

I wouldn't pierce their ears until they were around 11 and could properly decide for themselves. She might want to grow up to be an adult with no holes in her ears. We had boys so luckily this didn't come up.

Nooooo op. Things can go wrong with piercings, even just lobes, and baby won't be able to tell you they are still sore after 3 months for e.g. (unusual for lobe piercings). Too much of a risk she'll pull on them and cause infections etc.

Plenty of time to get them done. Ignore the claim that getting them done earlier means they won't close up in later life that's really not true and even if they did, you just get them re-pierced.

Also, your baby doesn't like earrings. She likes shiny dangly things. Get her some dangly plastic toys.

Also, I had a lovely afternoon with my mum at 10 or 11, having hot chocolate and getting my ears pierced (after asking for AGES). If she's old enough to remember it, it will be a nice memory.

Wait, aside from the fact that it looks horrible seeing babies with pierced ears there is the safety aspect. I’ll never forgot seeing a little one have them ripped out at soft play by another toddler, it was horrible and completely unavoidable.
One of mine didn’t have theirs done until they summer before they started secondary, the other had changed their mind by that point as their friend got a nasty infection when she had hers done. Your child is far too young to want to have her ears pierced

I have a 6 month old and won't do it until she wants to but your opinion is very judgemental. I wonder how you would feel if people felt so strongly against you because of your cultural traditions/choices or simple parenting choices where they hoped you wore a massive banner saying you're a shit mum.

Me! 🙋‍♀️ I had my daughter's ears pierced around 2 years old. Never had any issues at all. She has no memory of it and has not been traumatised by it in the slightest. She is now an adult with a degree, a professional job and wears earrings every day and always has done. No regrets from me or her!

But why though? I mean what was your reasoning? Because you liked the way it looked?

IMO, They should be old enough to be able to care for them themselves at the time and afterwards.

This is the rule I intend to have with my DDs. My eldest is 5 and has never asked about it. I have two piercings in each ear but I assume as more friends at school get them, she'll be more aware of it as an option.
My rule will be she has to be able to keep them clean etc by herself after they've been done. I'm not sure what age that will be (and obviously she may never ask!) but it's definitely not now, if she were to ask.

No child "needs" earrings. Wait until she's (at least) 16, and can make an informed decision. Plus, they look awful on small children, and you know that people will judge you.

There surely can't be more than half a dozen people in existence who would get a tiny baby's ears pierced, and what are the chances of them seeing this thread?

I agree with you both. My husband had his nose and ears pierced as an infant, for cultural reasons. His mother wanted to know why our children weren't getting the same, so he told her - the obvious reasons, outlined above. I don't think it ever occurred to her.

I hate when people say 'its cultural' - the 'cultural reason' is that people in that culture think baby girls need to look pretty with earrings and different to baby boys, is that a good thing?
Female genital mutilation is also cultural, does that mean we should excuse people carrying it out? Of course not.
There is literally zero reason to stab a needle through a baby's ear!!!

@WiserOlderElf truthfully, yes, because I liked it. I still do. It maybe wasn't such a big deal then as it is now to have a baby's ears pierced. It was literally seconds. She had no lasting effects of pain or trauma. She probably had more pain and trauma growing up from having her hair brushed!! But that seems to be an unfashionable thing to do now too! I was not and am still not a crap mum or a chav as @Alectoishome suggested I would be. I have 3 children who all did well at school and sports, got degrees and all have professional jobs. They are all also happy, well adjusted adults with partners and many, many friends. We make choices for our children when they are young. We dont always have to agree with others parenting choices.
I have zero regrets having my baby daughter's ears pierced. Neither does she.
Oh just to add she also wore a christening bangle on each chubby wrist as well. And was often seen in a Sarah-Louise smocked dress with frilly socks, her hair in plaits with ribbons and patent shoes.
She looked gorgeous. And still does. 😍

Don't do it.

I was 17 when I had mine done. I knew how to take care of them while they were healing but despite being careful, one of them still got infected and my earlobe swelled up and started oozing. I also used to catch the sleeper hoops in combs and brushes and catch stud earrings on clothing.

How are you going to prevent such a young child from tugging at them if they are irritating her or if they become infected?

It doesn't matter when your mother got you and your sister's ears pierced or your sister-in-law. This is your child. You are responsible for her wellbeing and no child of that age needs their ears pierced.

"DC is 18 months and for about 9 months now she loves earrings etc."

At 18 months, she'll be fascinated by anything shiny.

She'll still be at the stage where she'll pop anything of interest into her mouth, whether it bits of mummy's jewellery, beads, pebbles, worms, snails etc.

I also think it should be illegal to pierce a young child's ears.

Noooooo, just no.👎

Just don't do this -- it is assault.

Imagine being so clueless about the world to think this. Or (more likely) to think that pretending you think this somehow reflects well on you.

@Maharajah20 I find it unlikely that your daughter had more pain from hairbrushing. However, brushing hair is essential.
Having pierced ears is not .

She's loved earrings since she was 9months old! Yeah right!