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Monday, September 9, 2013

Baby Ears: To Pierce or Not To Pierce


The conversation kind of caught me off guard. It was a few weeks ago, and my drama students were chattering about whether or not their ears were pierced - and when they had had them done.

I've heard a wide response from my students over the years:

"I got my ears pierced when I was ten!"
"I was six."
"I had to wait until my twelfth birthday."
"Ughhhhh I can't get mine pierced until I turn sixteen."

And then, during this conversation: "I got mine pierced when I was a little baby."

It just made me think....would I pierce my daughter's ears?

I, personally, had to wait until the age of sixteen until I was allowed to pay for the lady at the Walmart jewelry counter to poke holes in my ears. My best friends had theirs done at age twelve, so I felt that I had waited literally forever. I was pretty excited about it and purchased just about every pair of 10 for $5 Claire's clearance earrings I could find.

In hindsight, I think my parents had a great strategy in making me wait "forever" to get my ears pierced. I'm still glad that I had them done. I enjoyed several years of amazing dangly earrings, in between the early phase of "what!-there-are-cherries-or-flip-flops-or-gnomes-on-these-amazing-earrings!!!!" and the stage I am in now - where I'm afraid to wear any sort of earring for fear that my earlobe will be ripped clean off by my loving offspring. I think Miss Adelaide will be waiting quite a few years before she is allowed to make the decision for herself.

Ultimately, though, it will be her decision. I have nothing against those who pierce their baby's ears - to each their own. I admit that I can't even imagine how to deal with caring for an infant's ear piercing (especially if it became infected!), but aside from that - I just don't think it's my decision to make.

And I'll enjoy looking at those beautiful, perfect un-pierced earlobes for...oh, about the next fifteen years.

Did you - or will you - pierce your child's ears? Why or why not?

11 comments:

  1. We have decided to wait until our girls ask to get their ears pierced. We hope when they ask that they are responsible enough to take care if them on their own. If we feel they are not we will try and talk them into waiting.

    Ultimately it is their body and their decision. We will provide guideance and information. What would we do if we got their ears pierced at a young age and they didn't want them? How would the girls feel?

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    1. Exactly, I've thought that too - don't want her to be upset with me as an adult if it is not something she wanted!

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  2. I feel the same way as Bunkin. I would rather wait until they are old enough to decide on their own.

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  3. My dad started trying to convince me to get my ears pierced when I was 3. He was a jeweler and my mom only got her ears pierced after being married to him. Since he couldn't make me regular earrings, he just made me clip on ones. :) I always loved the way dangly ones looked, but hated the pain. I've still never wanted to pierce my ears, though. I'm glad I didn't. :)
    Actually, if you want to know the honest truth, it is really bad for you to pierce your body and put metal through the holes. I would never EVER EVER do it to a baby and I am a little aghast at people who do. Piercing your body affects it in the same way acupuncture does - but not in a good way. Putting metal in your body or wearing in on your skin actually keeps your body's natural magnetic field from functioning and flowing properly. This causes lots of health problems.
    Yes, I wear a wedding ring and jewelry sometimes, but I take them off at night. It's good to give your body a rest. :)

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    1. I always wondered why your ears aren't pierced. I didn't think about how wearing metal could affect your body...interesting. I don't wear my rings at night, either. I used to always wear my posts in my ears, but I kept having an infection flare up in one ear so I quit wearing those too. I wonder if my holes will close up.

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  4. P.S. That said, I do enjoy the look of single piercing, dangly earrings on other women. I would just never do it myself. It's really just one more thing to have to deal with, no matter how you look at it.

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  5. I love how baby girls look with pierced ears, but neither of my daughters (ages 5 and 1) have their ears pierced. Partly because I'm pretty sure my husband would never go for it, but mostly because, with only 1 exception, every woman in my family has issues with pierced ears (even wearing the sensitive earrings). I got my ears pierced when I as 17. 6 months later, I took out the earrings and let the holes close up because they never did heal.

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    1. I've had some students complain about how their ears won't heal after they've had them done, too. That's crazy! Mine healed just fine - until this year, when I had some issues with a recurring infection in one ear. Just that drove me crazy.

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  6. I'm in the minority here and I might change your mind :)

    If your unsure, read on...

    Like many moms, I was unsure when to pierce our dd's ears. Admittedly, my bias was initially against having babies ears pierced at an early age. However,I did something that I never would have thought I’d be interested in: I had Sandi’s ears pierced. It’s honestly not something I expected of myself, but I found that every time I saw a baby girl with pierced ears I was blinded by cuteness and consumed with jealousy. Plus, she had this unique sort of whimper/cry that I could only interpret s “Mommy, pleeeeease, I neeeeed earrings” (A mother just knows these things). I’m aware that, much like every decision a parent makes, this was a controversial decision. I’m not going to get into the various pros and cons of infant ear piercing as I don’t feel the need to justify my decision and the web is already packed with articles and debates on the subject, as I discovered
    when trying to find the best place to take her.

    What changed my mind? One day, in our playgroup of moms with little girls, one of the moms came in unannounced with her 2 month daughter sporting little gold balls in her pretty newly pierced ears. She was totally adorable and looked very feminine. Needless to say, all of the moms including myself were in envy asking her a 100 questions.

    She said it was very easy and her dd barely cried. I went home and asked dh what he thought. Surprisingly, he said that really wanted our dd to have earrings since it was traditional in her family, but thought I was opposed to having our baby ears pierced, so he didn't say anything. However, he smile, was happy when I asked and would respect my wishes about it.

    Culturally, I'm aware ear piercing infants it custom and tradition. However, being a "WASPY white bread mommy," I was unsure how I felt about it, but knew how darling it looked. Well, I said that I would ask our ped for her thoughts at the next visit in a a week. When I asked our ped for her opinion about having our dd’s ears pierced, she reached in her pocket and took out a picture of her six month little girl with pearls in each ear, saying,” …this is what I think.” She encouraged me to go ahead and said it was best as an infant when mommy could care for them. According to our ped, she has never had a baby with a pierced ear infection, but has had quite a few older girls ages 2-5 who said they wanted it done, but failed to care for them. She gave me some ” tips for moms having their dd's ears pierced. ” since she has had so many moms ask about having their infants and little girls ears pierced. Our dd now has pretty pierced ears at 6 months old and has had no problem with them since 2 mos old :)

    I'd say if any moms are thinking about it, then your mommy intuition is telling earlier is better and I go ahead now as a newborn or infant.

    Still on the fence about your decision? Want to know our ped's tips for moms having their dd's ears pierced and where our ped took her dd and recommended? If your're a little curious, then write me an e-mail

    Amy

    amyswor1765@gmail.com

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    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Amy! I don't think I could do it - just wouldn't feel comfortable making the decision for my daughter, but I'm glad you have support from your pediatrician and friends! That's awesome.

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