Seriously, especially since my mom pierced mine (she was a registered nurse). The mall has those kiosks, I know, but I wouldn’t recommend those. Maybe Piercing Pagoda, but I the type of person that would never put anything less than 22K gold in the holes to start with. I just don’t believe the lesser stuff is good for you, from some experience.
baby ear piercings are DENFINTELY not acceptable in my family.
hell, the little inch-square rose tattoo on my left ankle that i got at age 40 caused something of a ruckus (altho i was smart enough to wait until my mother had passed on. she would have been MOST displeased with me…). 
the only reason i got my ears pierced at all, was because about 25 years ago, you couldn’t find any decent clip earrings anywhere. everything was pierced. so i caved and got them done.
then my sister and i both went together and got a second piercing about ten years ago. two years ago i added a third piercing in my left ear just for fun. so far, sis has declined to get a tat, however.
Ann Ominous, my parents had the same philosophy. My sister and I had to wait until we were 12 to get our ears pierced. As it was, it was something we wanted and looked forward to, but I can see how some girls wouldn’t care.
The parents usually are thinking- they are probably thinking “This is a sweet little thing my mother did for me, and now I will do that for my child.”
As much as we’d like to think our particular culture is the pinnacle of rationality, it’s not. Why do we make babies wear clothes when it is warm? Why do we put them in unsanitary and uncomfortable diapers? Why do we put them in cars- which is the number one way children get killed? Where does a baby really need to go besides the doctor’s now and then? Huh?
Not a parent myself, but I’ll just throw out a wild guess that it’s “so they don’t shit and piss all over everything.”
Yes. Lots of people we know have multiple piercings and/or tattoos, and those that don’t will know that Claire’s Accessories do it (they advertise it in the window and it’s a popular shop for trinkets), and there’s one of them within about twenty minutes’ drive (max) of every home in the South-East.
My husband’s family have been urging me to get my daughter’s ears pierced since she was born. I actually have several pairs of earrings for her that were gifted to her starting around 1 month old. My kids’ pediatrician has often said to my daughter, “When will your mommy pierce your ears!?” She’s joking, of course, but her daughters’ ears were pierced when they were under a year old as well.
My husband’s family is from India and my kids’ pediatrician is from Iran.
All things considered, ear piercing doesn’t seem that big a deal. We chose not to do it for a number of reasons. It also seemed incredibly inconsistent with how much we questioned whether our son should be circumcised or not.
My mother got a lot of questions, too. And the funny thing is, I was in India for four years first, with my aunt, who is kind of traditional in these things, so I’m surprised she didn’t get them pierced. Probably didn’t have he money?
Oh, but don’t you know that babies in China & Cameroon run around naked or with bottomless pants so they can shit on the ground?
I must protest! 
What you are speaking of is very early potty training and it happens in India, too. This only works if the mother/grandmother/guardian is always there. It’s more training the parent to recognize the signs…just like you know your dog’s signs and take him out into the yard. The mother knows the frequency of the kid’s bowel movements, etc., and is just prepared. That doesn’t mean plenty of Indian moms don’t get peed on by babies (especially the boys) but it does help a lot. And it doesn’t mean they just poo on the ground. I mean, I know India can be gross and disgusting, but we do have designated poo places.
Here in the Czech Republic just about all girl babies have their ears pierced in infancy. Our little girl of 2 1/2 is often mistaken for a boy because she has short hair and no earrings, even when dressed entirely in girly colours with flowery patterns.
What strange world you live in. I cannot imagine, even in my women-always-have-earrings country like mine, telling an adult woman to get her ears piercered like she was a moron who hadn’t done it because she couldn’t figure it out.
Here in Peru it’s always done, unless you specifically say no. My daughter got her earrings at hospital. I’ve seen it and it’s painless.
(without reading the rest of the thread): definitely people still do. I think it’s a lot less common among WASP-heritage Americans, but in other cultures it’s pretty standard.
Do I think it’s a good idea? No, really, I don’t. Baby doesn’t care about looking cute, it’s strictly a cosmetic thing. There are risks of choking as well if one comes loose, and dangly earrings??? oh HELL no.
However, I think there are a lot worse things that people can (and often do) do to their kids so I keep my mouth shut unless someone asks me.
I will admit to walking past the Piercing Pagoda at the mall, when an infant was screaming in pain and bewilderment because, hey, this person she trusted had just allowed her to be HURT, and snarling at them that they should be ashamed for hurting a baby.
Moon Unit wanted her ears pierced. We made her wait until she was 11 and mostly old enough to take care of it herself. She was brave, and it was something she really wanted. Unfortunately one became infected several times so we took the stud out and let it heal up (not a bad thing, the placement wasn’t great anyway). She wanted to get it redone a couple months later, but panicked and nearly backed out because that time she remembered what it was like. I wasn’t going to force her, but I did bribe her with letting her choose another new pair of earrings and she was glad she went through with it.
OK, that has been brought up several times…
baby-sized earrings are NOT push-on; the back is screwed onto the shaft and believe me, it’s extremely difficult to take it off.
Now, if people are dumb enough to use non-baby earrings, that’s a different problem. But the ones marketed for babies are specifically designed to stay in place. Mine didn’t come off except for cleaning until I got my second pair at age 13 and, unlike the push-on and clip-on kinds, they never came off on their own.