Newborn: Ear Piercing

I spoke to a Pedi with 20+ years experience, who told me that she believes ear piercing leads to higher cases of ear infections, so I should wait until at least 2 years of age before piercing my DD's ears.

My DD is now almost 3 and she is starting to become interested in my ear rings. I think in a few more years she'll ask to do it, until then, we'll wait.

P. you asked for moms that have pierced their babies ears, not for moms that are against it1!! If this is a cultural thing or a tradition, no mom should criticize or judge you for doing what you are doing. There is nothing wrong with getting baby girls ears pierced, it has been done for years, in Latin America, India and Africa. it is not a big deal, there is no evidence or study that has been done that related ear piercing with ear infections!!!!

Any way, we pierced our baby girl ears when she was 3 months. Some pediatricians do it, ours did not, so we did it at memorial mall. You actually buy the earrings from them, I would recommend for you to get gold earrings. They will give you a solution and you'll have to clean your babies ears twice a day for 2 weeks, and also you need to turn the earring around a few times a day.
Your baby girl is going to look beautiful!!!!

Congratulatios on the newborn! And the other three as well. Why be in a hurry to pierce her ears? You should wait until she's old enough to want to have them pierced, then she can tell you when they are infected and/or hurting.

Enjoy your precious bundle of joy just the way she is!

L.

I don't think I would pierce a baby's ears. I have a daughter who is almost 4 and I did not pierce her ears as a baby. As cute as you might think it looks, I would fear them pulling at them and either ripping them out or choking on them. Just my opinion. I know how tough it was for me as a new mom just to get my baby's shots done because of the pain it caused them and I knew that was for a good purpose. To put them through that just to make them look cute is just unneccessary to me. Looks adorable, but I just couldn't do it to my daughter. I will let her decide when she is older.

When she is 16 and can take care of them herself.

Your baby's little ears are perfect. Why not allow her to decide if she wants to put holes in her ears?? I understand that some cultures tend to pierce baby's ears but I do not personally agree with it. We will allow our two daughters to pierce their ears if/when they ask to do so AND are responsible enough to care for them themselves. For me, it was almost a rite of passage...at 13.
This can be a choking hazard and can be dangerous for a small child.
Please consider waiting a while...

I would do it when she's old enough to decide for herself if she'd like to have her ears pierced or not. That's what I did with my oldest daughter. She wanted it done for her 6th birthday. Her ears stayed infected so we let the holes close up until she was a teenager and she had it redone. I now have a 4 yr old daughter and the topic hasn't been brought up yet.

I personally chose not to pierce my daughter's ears, as I want her to make that decision for herself.

Ask your pediatrician. If you vaccinate, I believe they say after the 4 month shots they are able to have their ears pierced. 3 weeks is too early, I would say. If I were to get it done, I'd have it done at the pediatrician's office, not anywhere else and they can tell you when it's an okay age.

I would ask your pediatrician, since there might be complications. You will need to know the best way to keep them clean and if there are any possible problems with doing it so young.

However, I feel that ear piercing is a personal decision and you shouldn't do it for your child - she (or he!) needs to be old enough to decide for herself that she wants it and old enough to care for and clean her ears herself.

We got our daughters ears pierced at 2 months old and all is still well! It was early enough that she didn't know they were there so she didn't play with them and didn't care that I cleaned them and now that she is 10 months old and actually can use her hands she doesn't even know the difference and still lets me clean them.

The American Association of Pediatrics suggests that you postpone the piercing until your child is mature enough to take care of the pierced site herself. But they don't expressly suggest against it...and they say lots of stuff I would never agree with. Short of that, the general recommendation is to wait until around 3 months of age so that your little has had some vaccinations--I'm assuming tetanus is the concern here.

I had mine done when I was 5 or so...my dad made my mom had to wait until I asked for it (there was some coaching going on). I was responsible for taking care of them, though of course, my parents checked them for infection.

I decided to wait on my daughter's, I did it for a few reasons: 1) I've seen some really badly placed earrings as little girls grow up. 2) My daughter had ear infections and I can't imagine having to deal with the ear pulling and earrings. 3) She had perfect little earlobes that I loved to kiss. 4) A little spiteful, but Mexican in-laws were pressuring me to do it. 5) Why add one more thing to take care of?