Piercing baby girl’s ears

[PumpkinSpiceMuffins]

Has anyone pierced their baby’s ears? When is the best time to do it? Is it uncomfortable for the baby to be wearing earrings all the time? I’m interested in my daughter having a piercing that never closes even if she doesn’t wear earrings for years.

... because you're putting a hole in a baby's earlobe, with no good reason!
All these claims that a baby doesn't cry or isn't bothered at all by a piercing seem somewhat far fetched.

So you want her to look common. Lovely.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

You don't have to "go through" anything at all.
It's not compulsory.

Are you only engaging with the few posters who agree with you?

Most of us don't think baby girls need holes poking in their ears for adornment because it doesn't benefit them in any way.

Baby girls don't look prettier with earrings so why do it?

She did and they didn't speak for months.

such a non issue into such a big thing

You paid someone to hurt your baby and permanently cause damage to her earlobes and its not a big deal. Just because something is common or cultural doesn't make it OK. Would you be find if someone pierced a baby's bellybutton? Easy to look after, doesnt hurt much, and how pretty to have a bit of metal there.

Your comments about how older children complain that it hurts and you still don't get that is what you did to a baby?! It hurt your baby just as much, for just as long.

Of course it hurts a baby. They just can't tell you.

Agree with all this. They used to not give premature babies pain relief when they operated on them because they said they wouldn't remember the pain.

Later they found loads of psychological evidence of the trauma of pain from the operations. Really sad.

Obviously earring piercing is on a much smaller scale, but the point is it still hurts the baby and still affects them just as much as an older child - they just have no choice about it and also can't tell you it hurts.

I think the 'it's normal in my culture' argument needs looking in to. Why is it part of the culture?

I wonder if it goes back to the days of dowries? (Yes I know they still exist in places) Maybe when people didn't have bank accounts or didn't trust banks.

So if you have gold in your ears it is something of value you can trade.

I have no evidence of this, just morning musings.

Alongside what others have said:
Reasons Piercing Guns Are Problematic
Flat Back Vs Butterfly Back Earrings: What's The Difference?

(guns = blunt force trauma to the ear and damage to the fistula, hence needles are better, but a baby is extremely unlikely to sit still and patiently enough for this to safely occur)
(butterfly backs = great harbourers of bacteria, irritation and general discomfort - think about that stabbing pain in the back of one's neck as they sleep, for example. Also do not provide enough room for swelling, so the piercing may become embedded within the ear.)

Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have children if they think it’s ok to hurt them for vanity. It’s child abuse, nothing less. Piercings should be made illegal in anyone under the age of 5.
Why anybody would want their baby to look common and chavvy, I also don’t know. Imagine having a baby and thinking “I’m going to inflict pain and discomfort on this baby so I can put pretty shiny things in their ears”. Horrific.
I have 7 ear piercings (first when I was a teenager) and they all caused me discomfort to get done and in the hours afterwards. Nobody is telling me that babies don’t feel it.

@sashh - you're right, it's portable wealth. It just shows you how outdated piercing babies is, leaving the cruelty aspect aside. It's 2024, such cultural habits are outdated, apart from the pain and distress inflicted.

Torturing an animal for entertainment isn't the same as killing it quickly with a captive bolt gun to eat it. HTH.

That's horrifying! Even if they "wouldn't remember" the pain when they grew up, they would still feel it at the time! I wonder if these people would have operated on dementia patients without pain relief, because "they'll forget it anyway".

My mum got my ears pierced when I was 2 (it was the 90s so safety and giving a shit was a little but more lax)

Honestly it's annoyed me my whole life that she did that. It's my body and how dare she choose that for me.

I would wait until they are older and can choose for themselves. I really do think it's cruel.