ear piercing

mummy2girls wrote: Jenna is 7.5 months old and I was thinking of peircing her ears.... waht do you all feel about peircing a baby that young?

~CrazieMama~ replied: I think you should do it now before she gets too much older. I had my babys' ears done around that age and she did great. She did not pull at her ears at all. If she is too old, she may remember the pain. It does not hurt that long. My baby did not cry to bad, wimpered more than anything. But that is to be expected. Good luck on your decision.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I would definately do it now! I waited with my first DD until she was 6 and let me tell you, I think it would have been a lot easier to take care of while she was a baby!

amynicole21 replied: I've got a little different perspective - Just my opinion! I decided not to pierce Sophia's ears until she asked to have it done. I don't want to make changes to her body without her permission. I also feel that inflicting pain on her when she is young, whether she can remember it or not, is still inflicting pain that is purely for cosmetic reasons. I'd like her to be able to take care of her ears herself, too. Like I said, just my perspective and what I decided to do with my baby.

mckayleesmom replied: Im conflicted in the matter, I wanted to get them done a couple months after she was born and if I do Im going to wait longer cause I read somewhere that if you do them to young their ears will grow and the earing holes will stretch. Then I also feel sometimes that I should wait and see what she wants..but I have a problem with that too, cause I can still remember being 4 years old and begging to get them done, so for my birthday my sisters took me to sears to get them done and they did one and I remember putting up a huge fight about the other one, my sisters had to bribe me with candy. So I don't think I want her to remember.

Also I went to go get my cartilege done when I was in high school and there was a little girl in there from our home town, she was about 10 and she was getting her ears peirced, and she was so exited,,,they did the first one and you know the look on your babys face when they get a shot? That was the look she made when she began to cry. I had got my second holes done months earlier and it hurt like crap, felt like someone hit me in the ear with a rubber band. After I saw her cry I almost changed my mind about the cartilege, but believe it or not, when the girl did it, I didn't even know she had finished, I never felt anything but my ear being a little warm, and later it itched a little. So anyways, i don't think I want Mckaylee to remember getting them pierced.

MomToMany replied: This is just my opinion. We're waiting until Hannah can ask for it to be done. I was tempted to get it done sooner, but thought that it might not be what she wants. I don't want any holes in her ears that she might like when she gets older. So we're gonna wait.

kit_kats_mom replied: I got mine done when I turned 13. My entrance into "teenagehood". It was a birthday present that I'd looked forward to for years.

MommyToAshley replied:
I agree for the same reasons.

maestra replied:
Well said! And you don't know what an evil person this makes me in dh's family! In most Mexican families, they pierce the baby's ears at 2-4 weeks old. There's no way I could do that! Just the pain from the shots is enough! Dh didn't agree with me at first, then he saw her reaction to the first set of shots, and was totally on my side from that moment on. His family keeps threatening that they will take her and have it done when I leave her with them. Needless to say, my mil will NEVER watch my daughter.

BTW- I had my ears pierced when I was five years old. I was so excited I could hardly wait. My mom warned me, talked about the pain, and prepared me. When they did it, I was a little scared, but was so excited about how they would look. It did hurt, but afterwards I couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror the whole car ride home!

Schnoogly replied:
I totally agree--sorry to offend but I think early ear piercing is for the parents, not the baby, and it's not right to alter your baby's body without her permission. If she wants to do it when she's a teenager (or old enough to understand how to take care of it herself) then fine. And I'm perfectly fine with iain getting an ear pierced if he wants when he's old enough. DH has 3 piercings! But I also feel this way about circumcision--body mutilation without the baby's consent isn't right--it's his/her body not yours.

Steph

Schnoogly replied:
Why are they so adamant about doing this? I live in southern cal where there are lots of latino families and just the other day I saw a baby in Target that couldn't have been more than a week old with pierced ears--the posts stuck way out on either side of her head! I can understand the religious reasons to baptize, etc., but why the early ear piercing? Is it to mark them as girls?

Steph

Kaitlin'smom replied: ya I thought about getting Kaitlins done but them I decieded to waite until she was older and wanted them her self, like most others said I dont want to change her with out her asking(unless its was absolutly nessaary) or be able to care for them. So if and when she is ready I will pierce them.



I am soo this way also, I am glad for this reason only I did not have a boy cause DH and I total disagree on this!

maestra replied:
Traditionally, it's a sign of wealth. Babies wearning jewlery meant that the families were doing well. My mil was also mad at me because I would not let her put a gold bracelet on Jaci's wrist. They spend $100 on these bracelets, that can adjust a little bit, but eventually have to be cut off. My mil told me she would buy Jaci one, to which I told her that I would be happy to put it with Jaci's things to save for her so she could see it when she grows up. She said "Aren't you going to put it on her", to which I responded with my reasons for not liking jewlery on children- possiblities for injury, fights in school later on over it, cost, etc. Then we got into the discussion on earnigs.

During our shower (which we had after her birth- for their family), my mil kept telling people that she was going to go and take her to get them pierced. So the last time, after she said it again, when no one was looking I gave her the dirtiest look. She got the message and didn't say it again.

supermom replied: Both myself and all of my children have been old enough to make their own decision as to whether or not to get their ears pierced. My 18 YO son is considering having his ear done, I still haven't gotten him a 'real' present for his grad and told him if he decided to get it done, that I would pay for it. But I had told him the same thing years ago, and he still hasn't decided to do it. The last time we talked about it, thought, ht was thinking about doing it more to spite his real father, not for himself, and I had told him that was not a very good reason to do it, but if that was what he decided I would stand behind him. But both girls, for the 10th BD, got to go and get them done. My youngest wanted second holes done last year, and I let her do that too. But if this new one is a girl, she will be old enough to want to have it done. I'm going to agree with all of the others that say that mutiliation of one's body should be an individual decision whether or not to do it, not something you should do for cosmetic reasons (same for circumcision!!!)

Just my

MommyToAshley replied: I hope I did not offend you -- I would never put anyone down for having their baby's ears pierced, just like everything else, it is a personal decision. I just opted not to do it with Ashley, but I know a lot of people do.

Let us know what you decide and post a pic if you have it done.

Mommieto2Girls replied: Well I am all for peircing a babys ears. I think they are beautiful and why should they have to go through the pain when they get older. I think almost all girls are going to want to get their ears peirced anyway, so why not save them the pain of it and get it done early. My mom had my ears peirced early (like 2 weeks old) and I am thankful for it because I will never know the pain and I have always loved them.
I had Madisons ears done when she was 9 weeks old (they would have been done sooner if they would have let us but you have to wait till baby gets first tetnus shot in case of a alleregy)which baby gets a 2 month checkup. Now she will never have to know the pain and they will never itch and get pulled out while there healing. They healed before she could figure out how to get to them.

mummy2girls replied: wow..i can see most of you decided agaisnt peircing the ears and i hope i dont upset you all when i tell u that...I did peirce them. Ill post the pic of her that i took today of her sleeping with the ears showing..well one ear as she was sleeping on her side...

aspenblue1 replied: I had Isabellas done at 7 months.

supermom replied:
I doubt you'll upset any of us, it is, after all, your child. You asked for opinions, we gave, and then you just have to follow your own heart!!

Kaitlin'smom replied: not upset here, its your choise and your daughter. like supermom said we gave our opinions and you did what you felt was right for you.