How old / young for earings?

[Auggietina]

My dd 11 just had them done this weekend. It was her choice and she understood it might hurt.

 

[corie161]

I've somewhat left it up to DD10 who has no interest. She's a wimp when it comes to pain, so it could be a while. Had she asked any earlier though I would have had a hard time letting her. I had both my holes ripped out when I was younger. One I banged on the playground pole trying to hurry in when the recess bell rang and one got hit by a basketball.

 

[tzolkin]

My sisters and I had ours done as infants. I wore earrings until I was about 17 and have only worn them a handful of times in my adult life.

I decided I would let my kids make the decision. When my oldest was 6 I told her she could get them pierced if she wanted. She said she wasn't ready, but then asked to have them pierced on her 8th birthday. We asked DD4 recently, but she said no.

My sister had my niece's ears pierced when she was a few months old. Once I was shopping with niece and DD4 in the cart together. A random stranger came up and started asking me why I would pierce the baby's ears and not the older one. I just said "She's not my kid" and the woman said "Oh" and walked away. The really weird part was that she was whispering into my ear and pointing between the two kids, so I was really confused at first. I guess she didnt want to upset the older one by making her realize that the littler one had earrings and she didn't, so she was trying to be quiet about it.

 

[Becky2005]

Whatever you want. I don't have pierced ears, never had a desire to have pierced ears. Just wasn't something I cared about.

I'm making DD wait until she's 16 but that's because the idea of sticking the earrings in her ears freak me out. I so don't want to deal with it at all.

I was in HS and remember in volleyball a girl had recently gotten her ears pierced, since you weren't allowed to have earrings in -- basically she re-pierced her ears in the locker room after the game. It gave me the EWW factor. My best friend had her ear lobe ripped out from a hoop earring so she had a split earlobe for as long as I could remember when I met her. Eventually she did have plastic surgery to fix it & then repierced her ears.

So, in my case -- I want NOTHING to do with twisting/turning/cleaning dealing with infections or anything of that nature. Then again, my DD may change her mind. This child was offered to wear contact lenses at night & then she wouldn't have to wear glasses during the day.

She turned it down because it sounded like too much work for her & she was afraid she would forget to put the contacts in. I was shocked she would turn that offer down but we have a few other upcoming things that would make it difficult to deal with at the moment. She tends to forget to put her retainer in as it is now.

 

[luvmy3]

I don't think your girls are too young, but I do agree with everybody who says that it should be done when they want to do it.
My dd was 7 when she had them done, the first time. We had to re-pierce a few times because she played soccer and had to remove her studs and earrings. She wasn't too bad the first time we had it done, but the next 2 times she was a mess, since she knew what to expect. I didn't push her, she decided on her own to get them re-done. I did tell her that I wasn't taking her again if they closed up because I couldn't stand to watch her go through it again.

 

[mom2disprincesses]

my ears were pierced before i was a year old and i pierced my girls ears when they wre 3 months old. This was done at their doctors office. It's interesting the different viewpoints on this topic. Maybe it's a cultural thing for us since almost EVERYONE i know pierces ears when their children are infants!

 

[megthewonderful]

I wanted to get my daughter's ears pierced at a young age, so she wouldn't remember the pain later. However, my pediatrician said the risk of infection or problems was too great. I figure I will wait until she around 6 and see if she wants to get them done.

 

[LisaNJ25]

My older dd had them done at 3 months.. my younger at 11 month. Only waited longer for younger one since I knew she was having surgery and I didnt want to take them out before they healed.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

My daughter was three and got them for her Birthday. I say go for it, if they want it done!

 

[HunnyPots]

My daughter was three and wanted earrings like me so bad. My MIL gave her the money as a gift and we went to the mall and had it done. She's 21 now and still remembers it! Oh - she now has three holes in one ear, four in the other, and her belly button pierced! Be careful what you start!

 

[dreamer17555]

We had my DD (6) ears done this summer. She was really wanting it done but such a big baby about any sorta pain I was very nervous about taking her. I did warn her it would hurt but the pain was pretty quick. We ended up taking her after her State Dance Championship for a job well done treat.

What I do recommend is having two people do the piercing at the same time so that you don't end up with a screaming child who doesn't want the other ear done. With two women doing Cat's ears she flinched and turned red for a split second and then started to pick out earrings for after she could take her studs out.

Cat is very responsible but those first few weeks you as the parent are going to need to make sure they stay clean, the vaseline idea is great and really will help.

I think your girls are at a fine age as long as they want it and know that there will be some pain involved.

-Becca-

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I left it up to my girls. My youngest is almost 12 and says she will NEVER get her ears pierced and probably will never do it.
She hates pain and passes out.

Oldest got her ears pierced about 8yo, and as a b-day present she got a second piercing at a Tattoo place for her 17th b-day.

If you go get it done, I recommend the Tattoo place. Yes it is a needle but the placement of the earring hole is perfect. The piercing gun that is used is not the best way to get a piercing.
ESP. if your dd's lobes are small. You will get a correct piercing hole.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

My dd is 7 and just got them done. I had mine done at the same age. She had been talking about it since she noticed kids her age had them but was never "brave" enough to do. A few days ago we were at the mall and she wanted to do it and I said okay.

I do reccommend having both ears done at the same time. This worked great for dd. I think if they had been done one at a time dd would only have one earing!! LOL!!

She was so cute afterwards. She kept trying to look at her reflection as we walked around the mall. She felt so special. It was a nice mommy moment that could have gone the other way!

 

[princessalexis]

I don't know how old I was when I started begging to have my ears pierced. I was probably about 7 or 8. My mom told me she had to wait until she was 16, so that was the orginal age. Then she lowered it to 13. Then she said when I went into middle school (at age 11). She finally took me to get them pierced at 10 years old when I had gotten braces.

She would not, however, allow me to have my ears double pierced. I had to wait until I was 18 and out of the house. And I got them pierced my 2nd week of college. If I could go back in time and not do it, I would. I rarely wear any earrings, and don't wear them in my second holes at all. My second holes never closed all the way - I know it's not noticeable, but they really bother me.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

My girls were 3 and 4.
I remember the first one had problems changing after the initial 6 weeks. The second one waited 8 weeks and it was much better.
We all got the birthstone Mickey earrings at Disneyworld one year. It was one of my favorite souvenirs!

 

[mamacatnv]

Just trying to keep the political threads to a minimum so I'm posting anything I can think of

Oh thank goodness! Last week was SOOOOO boring!


My DD just got hers done 4 weeks ago for her 10th Birthday. She wanted them and has taken good care of them. She also got a couple of different pairs of 14K earring studs from her Aunties and cannot wait to get to wear them.

I had mine done at 8, what a mess. They got terribly infected etc. I do think that my parents didn't invest in 14K gold which was probably the biggest issue. I told my DD the story and so she is really good at keeping hers clean and we did go with the 14K.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I didn't want my DDs to have them done as babies, but mainly because I didn't want the cleaning/turning, and also the risk of her discovering the earring and playing with it in her ears before she could understand not to.

My older DD decided at age 4 that she wanted hers done, so we did. They took so long to heal - even though they didn't seem to be infected or anything, they were still tender long after they should have been, and she hated it. She finally asked to have them taken out. Based on that, I haven't one my other DD's ears, and both will have them done when they are older and can take care of them totally on their own, and can decide to put up with the healing process.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My older DD decided at age 4 that she wanted hers done, so we did. They took so long to heal - even though they didn't seem to be infected or anything, they were still tender long after they should have been, and she hated it. She finally asked to have them taken out. Based on that, I haven't one my other DD's ears, and both will have them done when they are older and can take care of them totally on their own, and can decide to put up with the healing process.

That is why you get it done at a tattoo/piercing place. The piercing gun will tear through the ear lobe.

A needle is unsettling but it is usually done by someone who is experienced at piercing properly. The needle is not jarring to the ear. It is a poke and through.

Esp..if you ever get a second piercing, you need to be very careful with the placement.

 

[Kath2003]

My mum skeeves out at the idea of piercings of any kind so she insisted we wait until we were 11 so we were old enough to take care of them ENTIRELY by ourselves. She turns green if we put earrings in with her watching

 

[HelenePA]

That is why you get it done at a tattoo/piercing place. The piercing gun will tear through the ear lobe.

A needle is unsettling but it is usually done by someone who is experienced at piercing properly. The needle is not jarring to the ear. It is a poke and through.

Esp..if you ever get a second piercing, you need to be very careful with the placement.

There is a tattoo guy who lives 4 houses down the street from me, his shop is across town... Maybe I'll talk to him about it when I see him.