Ear Piercing ?

Amanda - posted on 04/13/2009

hi - i am a professional body piercer.  (i use needles, in a proper and sterile studio, not guns in a jewelry store).  i wouldn't recommend having them done until your daughter is at least about nine months old.  our ears will grow and develop for our entire lives and baby ears are just too small to really makes sure that things will be even as she grows.  personally i will not pierce a child until they can ask for it, and have had no problems with this.  the youngest girl i pierced was 17 months.  i explained to her that she couldn't touch them and that it would hurt a bit and she didn't even flinch in the slightest while having them done.  though, with needles they do have to be done one at a time.  this is the ONLY way to be sure that they are even.  if one of them is off a bit, you can adjust on the second - if you have two people who can't see what the other is doing you get a lot of crooked piercings.  needles are also the only real safe way to pierce.  yes the jewelry used is sterile before hand, however the guns are not.  the "piercer" places a clean earring into a gun which has the blood and tissue of every other person that has ever been pierced by that gun all over the inner workings.  these guns actually say right on their packaging that they are to be used once and then disposed of, which they are not.  i would strongly advise seeking out a professional body piercer and having this done with sterile needles that do get disposed of after use and sterile jewelry.  do make sure and discuss things with the piercer, most studios use an implant grade steel (it should be .316LVM - an F-138 ASTM certified steel)  do not accept less.  this is the grade pf metal that is used when a doctor needs to implant metal in to your body ("surgical steel" is a marketing term, it has nothing to do with quality of material).  if you are wanting to use gold, a quality studio will not use less than 18kt (though there is still less of a chance of a metal allergy with the steel)  but make sure to ask the piercer how things are sterilized.  if they tell you that they use an autoclave, do NOT go with gold, it can not withstand the high temperatures of the autoclave and therefore will not have been properly sterilized.  if you are still set on having it done with a gun :( make sure to look around.  i have heard of some high end spas which use metal guns (not the plastic ones) that can be sterilized.  these places will eaither have an autoclave on the premises or they send their equipment out to be sterilized.  in either case you should ask to see their sterilization records and spore tests (proof that sterilization has been effective).  also, just in regards to piercing with studs in general - they do not allow much room for the ear to swell post piercing, and it will swell.  how much is something you really can't know for sure beforehand.  i have had quite a few parents bring their little ones into my studio to have me try and remove earings which have become embedded in the ear (suckied inside due to swelling).  in most cases i have had to send these to the emergency room to have the ear frozen, the earing scalpelled out and the child dosed with anitbiotics. overall, with all the risks of gun piercing, why would you want to take the chance with your precious little baby?

Rebecca - posted on 04/12/2009

I had my daughter's done for her 1st bday!!! She was awesome with it, me not soo much :( I cried!!!!!  But she didnt need to have them redone and she kind of understood that she wasnt allowed to play with them.  We with to "peoples" they were awesome and it wasnt done by a teenager!!!!!!

Rebecca - posted on 04/12/2009

I had my daughter's done for her 1st bday!!! She was awesome with it, me not soo much :( I cried!!!!!  But she didnt need to have them redone and she kind of understood that she wasnt allowed to play with them.  We with to "peoples" they were awesome and it wasnt done by a teenager!!!!!!

Heather - posted on 04/12/2009

i wouldnt get my childs ears pierced..............they cant voice any opinion and your putting your child in uneccesary pain! why would u want to deliberatly make you child cry when she cant make the decision herself???  im not trying to offend anyone tho

Heather - posted on 04/12/2009

i wouldnt get my childs ears pierced..............they cant voice any opinion and your putting your child in uneccesary pain! why would u want to deliberatly make you child cry when she cant make the decision herself???  im not trying to offend anyone tho

Shelby - posted on 04/12/2009

i wouldnt do it. my cousin had her daughters peirced at 6 months and they ended up having to take her to the emergency room. i'm going to wait to get my daughters pierced so that way she can remember it and it will be a fun experience/memory!

Anna-Marie - posted on 04/11/2009

Quoting Helen:

I think if a place was that reputable they would refuse to pierce a baby's ears, I can't understand why you would want to put them through that, all for the sake of fashion.

I agree totally Helen you can't trust many places anymore unless they are going by the legal guidelines xx

Helen - posted on 04/11/2009

I think if a place was that reputable they would refuse to pierce a baby's ears, I can't understand why you would want to put them through that, all for the sake of fashion.

Anna-Marie - posted on 04/11/2009

I think you'd be mad to get them done now, the majority of places wont do them until they are 1 year old which is when all of my girls have had their's done. I just worry because the places that are willing to pierce a childs ears under that age are dirty and your child will be open to infection xxx

Helen - posted on 04/11/2009

I think you should wait until your little girl is older, she may not want her ears pierced!

Viola - posted on 04/10/2009

when i had my first daughter i was gonna do it ( at her doctors )when she was 4 months and couldnt do it but we got her ears done on her 1st birthday didnt cried flinch or anything she left them alone i want to get my 4 month old daughters done but i dont know if i will now or wait like i did with my oldest

Amber - posted on 04/03/2009

i had my ears pierced when i was 6 months old and now the holes are really close to my face, i waited till my daughter was 2 to do hers but its all about personal preference, if u really want her to have them done i dont think it does them any harm and it will be her choice when she is older if she feels they need doing again

Rachael - posted on 03/31/2009

Thanks everyone! I'll be asking her ped is she does it at our next appt!

Annette - posted on 03/28/2009

Hi, I also have a 3 month olg baby girl, her pediatrician told me he will pierce her ears at 6 months old. According to him, this will prevent what happened to your friend's baby.

Ask the pediatrician since some doctors do it.

Hope this will help.

Michelle - posted on 03/28/2009

I would wait until she is older...old enough to want them pierced. Babies go thru so much as it is!!!!!!

Dara - posted on 03/26/2009

I had my first daughter's done at around three months old and I'll definitely be having this baby's done soon. I also recommend having the pediatrician do it. That's the way I went the first time and will be doing the same thing this time.

Angiolina - posted on 03/26/2009

I just pierced my baby's ears last Monday. I did both hers and my nine year old daughters at this age. I went to the mall. They cried for about ten seconds and are too little to pull on them or touch them while they are healing.

Robin - posted on 03/23/2009

I just had my daughters ears pierced saturday. She is my 3rd daughter. I had them all done and no one has had to have them redone. The other 2 girls are 18 and 14 now. I went to a mall. Some peds offices will do it from what I understand. It was no big deal. No worse than shots and she won't remember getting it done.