Peircing babies ears- how young?

[kayjaybabe]

i want to get my DDs ears peirced she is 5 weeks old but conicidently today was my due date (5 weeks premi) im not sure if that makes a difference.

What age do you normally get their ears peirced? As i dont want to do it when she is too young but i dont want to leave it to late as the later the more painfull for her!! :)

"I still don't buy the cultural argument "

Well, it is valid insofar as it means they are brought up to think it looks nice and is appropriate for babies to have pierced ears.

Um tbh i would never get it done yet!! I no5 weeks is way to young but wen i was a year old my mum got my ears pierced and i was just curious on other peoples say.. What a rude bunch you all are. I no alot of mother that have got their childs ears pierced early.

It's a horrid thing to do to a baby. imo very close to abuse.

Outrage -check
Chavvy -check
Culture -check
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Etc etc

The fact you know mothers who have done this does not make it right.

'what a rude bunch you all are'

If the other mothers put their hands in the fire would you.... yadda yadda?

Actually i have an aquaintance who had her 12 week old dds ears pierced and the girl pierced the second one lower than the first, so she took it out and DID IT AGAIN

Use the search facility on Mumsnet to look through the several previous threads on piercing babies ears. You won't find many people who have anything positive to say about it! It draws very strong opinions, similar to smoking in cars with kids in the back I'd say... 'Rude' or not, you asked for opinions and you got them.

I wouldn't do it, but it really isn't abuse. Don't be so ridiculous and what's more leave the poor girl alone. I think she gets the message

As the mother of a prem myself why on earth would you want to do something deliberately that could introduce the risk of an infection to a baby whose immune system might not be that strong?

Barking OP.

OP you raise an interesting question, " when should I take it upon myself to decide that my child should have holes punched in her earlobes which will cause her pain and possible infection"

Never, you let her decide whether she wants to do this.

Hi kayjaybabe. If you're new here you probably won't know that there's pretty much a consensus on Mumsnet that piercing babies' ears is quite simply wrong, and that it should not be done until the children themselves request it, at the very earliest. It might be useful for you to realise that should you go ahead and get the piercing done at a year or so, you will be judged by a great number of people - perhaps that's not a problem for you if it's more acceptable in your social milieu.

Secondly, if you think the responses here are rude, perhaps Mumsnet is not the parenting website for you - and I mean that in the nicest possible way. There are other sites such as Netmums where people are less bothered about such things (or if they are bothered are less honest/forthright) and certainly don't care about your spelling. Are you possibly dyslexic?

And to answer your question, my eldest daughter is 13 and she is not allowed to have her ears pierced because of potential allergy problems - I had terrible and permanent skin reactions to ear piercing. If she wants to go ahead with it when she's 16 that's her business.

Btw I love that you've managed to post this in style & beauty but not had the sense to already know the answers you were going to get

Puncturing your babies skin for vanity isn't abuse??
How can you justify it?

Honestly i asked for opinions not to be hunted down with pitch forks... Thank-you to those who have been reasonable about it and iunderstand the many different veiws also not once did i mention i thought it was ok just because ive seen other mothers do it i was just using that as a example to show thattheir are people out their that get it done! I dont think its that crazy and i deffently dont think it could be classed as abuse.

FunnyisintheGarden. Inflicting pain on a baby for no reason is tantamount to child abuse in my opinion. It might be a one off and it might have been done with the best of intentions or total ignorance but it doesn't change the fact that the parent is abusing the power they have over that child when they inflict pain on them in the name of vanity.

I had my ears pierced when I was 6 months old, I haven't really thought about what I would do for DD tbh. In some communities it is traditional for babies to have their ears pierced, though I know it can be seen as chavy in the west. I have a friend in South Africa who had her ears pierced when she was a baby with a needle, then a length of cotton pulled through the hole to keep it open! But that's been tradition in her family for generations.

I'm another one who thinks its abuse tbh.

HTH

to say piercing a babies ears is child abuse does a great disservice to those who have suffered abuse in it's most real sense. It is not a term to be bandied around lightly. IMO it isn't abuse

Troll? I do hope so

I do know some women who've pierced their babies ears Spanish and Chinese and they're not chavvy,so I do think the cultural difference thing is valid but meh I'd make her wait until she looked old enough to say she was sixteen and get them done herself like me.

The Chinese use very small golden hoops where the bit that goes through your ear tucks into the earring as they're comfier for sleeping in and will give if pulled at vigorously. I don't think you should get it done but if your absolutely determined it might be worth a bit of research to minimise risks and the obvious place to look are the cultures where it is the norm.

Mothers of African heritage have been prosecuted for making tribal cuts on their babies' faces in the UK. I don't see that piercing a child's ears is any different. Nor circumcision .

Either you can mutilate your children for cultural reasons, or you can't. And I know which of those options I'm in favour of.