1st ear piercing for a young girl (6yo)?? All advice needed!

[KimRaye]

DD suddenly decided earlier today that today was THE day to get her ears pierced (she's 6-1/2). Now, I'm not against this, but I haven't checked any of the 'mall' places out yet. Not sure of their practices, cleanliness, etc. What should I be looking for? I know I witnessed one grueling store trying to do the 2nd ear, after only doing 1 at a time. Is 2 at a time important? What about the quality/style of the beginner earrings?

I was ear pierced at about 12yo, and I didn't even want it, go figure, but I know this is something younger, and younger, girls want now. Do I say no? Do I investigate further? Does anyone have recommendations? Mine were done in a Drs. office, with ice cubes, and they're crooked anyway.

TIA

Kim

 

[Gaspode]

Hiya Kim

I don't really have any advice about the actual process of getting it done (esp as I live in a different country )

However, I had my ears pierced at 6 as a birthday present. I can't remember if I wanted them or not, but I imagine I went along with it to make my grandma happy.

I haven't worn earrings for probably about 12 years. I hate the tiny little 'dots' you can still see and I hated wearing earrings (I had many problems with them, one, not very pleasant story, I'll not tell here, suffice to say the backs got buried in my earlobes at one point and I stopped pretty soon after that).

Just thought I'd let you know, she may well regret it (a pretty strong word I guess but couldn't think of another). I hope not of course!!

Good Luck whatever you decide,
Gaspode

 

[AZKathy]

My two DDs have had their ears pierced at Claires here locally. Both girls had the ears pierced at the same time by two clerks there. They give anticeptic and information for ear cleaning and they also have a lot of gold earrings to choose from and will tell you the best earring for the child. I was disappointed in my youngest's piercing...one of her ears has the angle of the pierce going down so it is difficult to put an earring in. You can ask the clerk to make sure the angle of the piercing is at the proper angle (straignt) before it is done. Good luck! .

 

[kaylajr]

if at all possible have both ears done at the same time
my oldest DD had one done at 5 and got so worked up it took almost an hour to get her to calm down enough to do the 2nd

so when we took her little sister at 4 we waited until there were two people working and they did both ears at the same time much smoother

good luck

 

[helenabear]

Kim, I have to say if I knew then what I know now about peircing, I would never go to another "mall" place again. The place I have gone in the past as an adult won't do children under 7 though. THeir policy is that they want the kid to be old enough to take care of the peircing enough I guess.

If you go to a real place, piercing is much less hurtful and so much easier to do. I have a guy I love and if I ever get the cartilege done in my ear, I will go to him.

Here's a site that can help you find a good piercer who will do it sanitarily and safely http://www.safepiercing.org/

 

[Otimon]

Just curious here. What is the purpose of piercing the ears of little girls so young?
Babies with earings on just doesn't look natural to me. As a little girl, putting on mom's jewelry and makeup is fun but only pretend until she's older.

If this is cultural, how did it come about? Thank you in advance for giving me insight.

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

My DD had hers done when she was 4....her idea. I brought her to a place in the mall and let her watch someone else get it done, she changed her mind lol. But a few weeks later she decided she wanted it. I called the place in the mall (very sanitary...and the workers are very knowlegdable) and asked how to go about doing it....they said if they knew ahead of time they would be sure to have two people available so she could get each ear done at the same time. It was fine and they looked wonderful and she has had no problems in the 2 years since.

 

[legs22]

My dd is 6 and I would not get her ears pierced at this age. I've never even considered it.

 

[helenabear]

Kim in my sleepiness I forgot to add... anyplace that does it with a gun, isn't very sanitary. You can't kill all the germs off of a gun no matter how hard you try. You'd need to do it with an autoclave and one of those would melt any gun out there. Plus there is a difference between shooting and tearing through the ear (gun) and quickly taking a needle and pushing it through. I've had it done both ways and I can tell you the 2nd one is easier on the body (even for me who *hates* needles)

And I wanted to say, I never got my first set until I was 10. Truly I didn't see the need before then... for us it was like a "right of passage"

 

[Pooh93]

Both my dd's have their ears pierced. Ages 8 and 6. I also had theirs done at Claires by two people at the same time and have had no problems. I see nothing wrong with getting her ears pierced and if she is ready to help take care of them, then go for it. If she really wants it, then do it now and get the major healing over with before school starts. Both dd's picked their birthstones and those earrings were recommended because they are easier to grab for turning than the balls or flowers. I think they recommend leaving them in for 8-12 weeks and oldest dd's didn't seem quite ready at 12 weeks for earring changing (either that or she was just soooo dramatic about them still hurting, which I really didn't believe ) and I made youngest wait until about 16 weeks before we tried to change them and had no problem with her. Neither dd has had any problems with allergies, but I have ordered quite a few pair of their earrings from www.simplywhispers.com just to play it safe.

My last .02 is have fun, your baby is growing up and report back to let us know how both of you did! (Oldest dd and I couldn't watch youngest dd have it done, wimps that we are! )

 

[The LK 4]

My DD got her ears pierced as she was finishing up kindergarten. Her request. I would only have it done to her if they could do both at the same time. She has had problems a few times with certain earrings giving her trouble, so for the past 6 months or so she has just kept her starters in all of the time.

 

[SC Minnie]

DD go thers done when she was 6. She begged to get them done saying she was 'the only one without pierced ears' Her birthday was about 4 months away and I told her I would get them done for her birthday if she still wanted them. That wasn't good enough. So I told her she would have to work to earn the money-- it took her about 3 weeks but she did. I explained how it would feel and told her it would hurt. I wanted her to be prepared. I took her and she sat there and got them done. I then got a third one done in each ear while we were ther . DH wasn't too thrilled about either.

Make sure you explain the whole process to her and how she MUST take care of them afterwards and explain what will happen if she doesn't.

 

[mamamia]

My dd got her ears pierced at 7 1/2 yrs. old. She is the one who wanted to get it done. Before we went I made sure that she knew that it would really really hurt when they did it. We wound up going to a place in the mall, Piercing Pagota. I thought they did a good job. They wore gloves, they talked to her and made sure it was what she wanted and then they drew a dot on each ear and asked me if I was satisfied where the dots were. Then 2 girls did the ears at the same time. My dd was so brave. I asked her if it hurt and she said it didn't. So then we went for ice cream and she got a lot of attention because of course we had to tell half of the ice cream shop how brave she was!! When she went to bed that night, she admitted to me that it hurt when they first did it (there was no way she was going to admit it in the beginning because her cousing and 2 brothers were with us). She has never had a problem with them at all (she's 13 now). She goes weeks at a time without wearing any earings and the holes have never closed up. We followed the cleaning instructions to the letter.

On the other hand, I got my ears pierced when I was 12 at my drs. office and it was so traumatic for me. They numbed the ear (very little) and then they did one at a time. When they did the 1st when, I cried and cried and didn't even want the 2nd one done. It was a good few minutes before I'd let them near me again. My poor mother felt terrible.

My advice would be to get both done at the same time if possible and to just make sure that your dd knows it will hurt when they first do it.

Good luck.

 

[carole88]

Years ago I worked in one of those mall places that specialized in ear piercing. I highly recommend that you have both ears done at the same time unless you don't mind the possibility of going home with only one ear pierced. It didn't happen often, but we did occaisonally have a child who would not sit for the second ear to be pierced.

We used the gun. I see that one poster has a problem with the gun but I disagree. The guns were regulary disinfected and the earrings came out of sealed sterile packages. A special type of earring is used for the piercing. It has a very sharp end unlike a normal post earring so it does actual piece the ear, not tear through the ear. The gun is very fast. What I think scares most kids is the noise it makes when the trigger is pulled to pierce the ear. It is kind of loud since it is right up against your ear. I can't imagine first using a needle to pierce through a child's ear and then having to put the earring into the child's ear. I don't believe that my children would have sat through that.

Other than having both ears done at the same time, my only other suggestion is to make sure that the marks that are made on your DD ear are evenly lined up in the location that your happy with.

Good luck!

 

[Cindy B]

My daughter was 4 (almost 5) when my daughter got her ears pierced.

We were at my aunts house, who is a beautician. She had her own gun (she cleaned it as we were getting ready), and sterile pairs of earrings.

My aunt marked dots on the ear, and we did one. The look of my daughters face.. she did the cry without the sound! (and I felt like guilty mom!)

Then she didn't want the second one done. I held her hand, and my DH held her other hand. Since my aunt has done hair/beauty for over 25 years, she's a professional. She was able to get in and do it.. without a problem.

Then we would clean them. Unfortunately, she would get the back stuck in the earlobe. After the SECOND time that happened, she wanted the earrings out forever!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I had mine done at 9 months. My mother suggested both ears at the same time when I was considering having my dd's ears pierced. I ended up not going through with it, because she sucks her thumb and plays with her ear. I'd rather she didn't rip the earring out, which my sister did when she was 7. She now has a split earlobe. Not a pretty sight, let me tell you. So make sure your dd won't play with her ears...ever.

 

[Meriweather]

Okay...adding my two cents in

My DD got hers pierced at 3. For a birthday present. She wanted it.
We went to a "mall" place.....nothing wrong with that IMHO.
Piercing Pagoda. They did both ears at the same time.
Gave us all the cleaning stuff.
She had the screw on type hypo-allergenic earrings for several years. Not many lost earrings that way.
No infections that I can remember.

 

[Jasminesmommy]

I got my daughters done when she was 6 months. She cried 2 seconds and they were done together. Most places spray something on the piercing to numb it after.I had my daughters done at Piercing Pagoda in the mall. They have these at lots of malls.

 

[H&Hmommy]

My DD got hers done at 5. She was so happy to have them she didn't even cry. When we started changing them, always with sensitive earings, they got very infected so we ended up taking them out and letting the grow back. Just before school started last fall she begged to get them done again. We went to the Mall and had no problems. Almost a year later she still wears the same earings that they pierced with...we just clean them and put them back in...and she is very pleased to have them.
Kim

 

[aprincessmom]

DD got hers earlier this year when she was 8. She talked about it for a long time and each time she'd discuss it, we'd go to the store and she would ultimately decide not to once we got there.

I told her it would hurt for a while during and after the piercing but that it would go away with time and wasn't any more painful than a scraped knee. She told me after that she was glad I told her but that it wasn't even as painful as that.

We went to Claire's and this particular store won't do children under 10 one ear at a time...they did both ears at the same time and it was great. The girls who did it were very professional, talked to DD about getting them done, took a great deal of time to make sure the markings were even before they pierced the ears and then spent time with her showing her how to clean them and stressing the importance of cleaning them. It was a very good experience and DD was thrilled.

We haven't had any trouble with them and they look great.