OT-What age to get ears pierced??

[phillmolly]

If your SIL doesn't want to pierce her daughter's ears right now and wants her to be older, it may not be appropriate for you to force the issue, no matter how "cute" you think it is for tiny babies to have their ears pierced.


As I said in my earlier post, I am not trying to "force" my choice on anyone, I just wanted to see what other people thought. What my SIL does is her descion and it is not my place to say one thing about it. If she ask I will tell her what I think. She is a great mom and I don't interfer at all with how she is raising her children.

 

[Iri920]

I have my personal opinions on this, but since I don't want to start a huge debate I'll just say that my daughter had her ears pierced at 6 months. She's only 10 months, but she's been fine and doesn't really play with them.

Iri

 

[Jewels*CPA]

My sister just got my neice's done and she is six months old...they told her this was a great time because she is too little to really 'mess' with them...if she did it like when she was one or two, they say a lot of babies will mess with them and make them even worse...it's all up to your sister/brother...if she's gonna get it done early in life, do it now! if she's gonna wait until she is older, then she should wait

 

[crisi]

I never understood why parents peirce their little baby's ears??? Makes no sense to me, its unneeded pain for the child..for what?

When she is old enough to decide weather or not she would actually like her ears peirced and weather she can and wants to take care of possiable infections and the pain, then i say she is old enough.
JMHO

My FATHER'S ears were pierced when he was born, a cultural tradition that is supposed to bring good luck and protect him from infant death (his mother is first generation American, his grandparents were Romainian). They were removed around the time he was two or three having done their job and kept him from death as an infant. Obviously, my great grandparents and my grandmother had some "old country" superstitions, but don't knock the cultural aspect. Its done for luck and protection. Its done to give the baby her initial wealth. Its done because in some cultures identification of a girl baby by earrings is really important (obviously, not the case in my father's culture).

 

[jennifer293]

We got them pierced when they were old enough to ask themselves and knew what they were asking for..( DD#1 was 4 when this happened) DD3 has not asked and has NO interest as of right now.

 

[CampbellScot]

I think this is one of the personal decisions that is heavily influenced by culture, traditions etc.

I personally wouldn't pierce my baby's ears. The choking hazard, the infected ear holes, the trauma of the piercing itself...not for me. I have memories of seeing babies getting their ears pierced and they were doing that sort of silent scream thing...where you know as soon as they get a breath they are going to really wail. I STILL shudder thinking about it. But then I'm 26 and I don't have my ears pierced. Never will. When I was little it was something I thought I HAD to do...like booster shots before kindergarten. I was terrified of "when" it was supposed to happen. I never understood why girls would willingly sit and allow someone to impale their skin with metal. Still don't get it. Never will...

My best friend just had her baby's ears pierced...she's 18 months old. Her mom had HER ears pierced around the same age. It's a family thing. She hasn't had one bit of trouble with them except for a little redness. Her little girl slept through the whole thing. She looks pretty cute in them, I'll give her that!

 

[blessedby3]

I had my oldest DD's done at 3 years (she had been asking for them) and they got one done and we had to wait a while until she calmed down to do the other one. She finally went through with it and hers have been fine ever since (she is now 17). My second DD was 12 mos when she got hers done and they did both at once. She was fine with it and never cried. I have since been told it is better to do one at a time in case the discharge at a slightly different time and the child jumps. My second DD has had nothing but trouble with hers. She gets lots of infections and we finally just took them out and she no longer wears them. We had tried all kinds of earrings- sensitive, nickle free, etc. No luck. I think you should do whatever works for you child. There is no special magical age to have it done.