Whenever I take my (now 8 month old) baby in public, everyone thinks she’s a boy. It doesn’t bother me much, but I do wonder what folks are thinking when she’s dressed in a pink flowered dress and they still says “What a cute little boy!”
The last time this happened was when the checker at a grocery store asked if she was a boy. When I said no, the checker commented that I should peirce her ears, then everyone would know she’s a girl.
I must admit, it has never occured to me to pierce her ears. She’s just a baby!! Then several people who heard the exchange chimmed in saying things like, “Oh yeah, I got my daughter’s ears pierced when she was just 4 months!”
I would never pierce a baby’s ears. That to me is vanity on the parents part. What, you’re going to hurt your child by punching a hole in her earlobe just to justify your pride?
She’s only 8 months old. When she gets a little older everyone will see she’s a girl. Don’t fret.
My daughter knows she will get her ears pierced when she’s 13. She’ll be old enough to handle the slight pain and know why we’re doing it. In fact, we’ve got a whole Girl’s Day Out planned with her aunts and cousins.
I think piercing a baby’s ears is barbaric. YMMV, of course.
I wouldn’t get my baby’s ears pierced. Make her beg for it when she is 13. I don’t think that it is a bad thing to pierce a baby’s ears, just unnecessary and kind of silly.
Who cares if they don’t know if she is a boy or a girl? Just smile and nod at the strange people who feel the need to comment on your child. They probably are not that bright which explains why they don’t notice the pink dress.
Do what you are inclined to do, don’t let any parent or stranger decide for you. In some cases, assuming you take the precautions and take care of the earlobes, the risk of infections will be less than that of a teenage girl that gets her ears pierced in the cheapest place she can find and doesn’t do follow up care.
If you want to pierce your children’s ears, then go ahead and do so. If your girl turns out to not want earrings when she’s older, she can just stop wearing them, the hole will eventually close.
Ivylass, you don’t support piercing babies’ ears but you say your daughter will get hers pierced at 13? I hope it is with her consent. If the ears are pierced as a baby, she would never remember the pain, but if done at 13, the memory of pain will stay around longer.
Oh, I have no intention of actually piercing her ears. I was just surprised that so many people seemed to think it was a good idea.
I’ll let her do it when the pain is her idea, not mine. And I’ll make her earn it in some arbitrary way (like you have to get all A’s for one semester).
shrugs I had my ears pierced when I was a baby. No harm done, I don’t see it as extremely evil or good, just another parent decision in which either way (and if taken care of) won’t damage the kid forever.
Yes, it is most definitely with her consent. She can’t wait. She asked me last year, and I said, “No, not until you’re 13.”
If she didn’t want to I would have to think of another birthday present.
To me, pierced ears are a vanity thing. Since babies don’t get vain, to hurt them just so their parents can buy cute itsy bitsy widdle gold studs is disgusting.
It may be a cultural thing. Most of the babies I have seen with pierced ears are Latina or Italian. Does anyone know if it is a tradition in certain cultures?
Aaah, ivylass, no problem then. You just didn’t say it was with her consent, which left me wondering.
Like I said shrugs neither disgusting nor lovable, that is the way I see this issue.
I certainly didn’t have cute itsy bitsy widdle gold studs, I had 18-24 K gold earrings that had a latch in the back, sort of a loop style. Prevented me from taking them out and at the same time didn’t cause me allergies.
I really don’t think it is a big deal either way, like KarlGrenze said, if the kid doesn’t like them when she’s older she can just take them out.
SOOOOO many people have their ears pierced now, it isn’t like you are disfiguring her. A tattoo at 4 months would be a HUGE deal. haha Two pierced ears aren’t at all.
If you WANT to get her ears pierced, do it. If you don’t think you want to do that, just wait it out!
This is slightly off topic, but have you thought about using those little head bands with bows on them? That says GIRL if nothing else does. haha
On a another side note, I’ve had my ears pierced since I was 5. My parent’s really never thought it was that big of a deal. If I’d tried to pierce them all the way up my lobe, that would have probably been a problem, but one or two earings in each ear just isn’t a big deal…
I had my ears pierced when I was two, because I kept taking my mum’s earrings and trying to stick them in my ears.
I got my daughter’s ears pierced when she was 18 months old. I figured that she wouldn’t remember the pain that way. In Australia, most women get their ears pierced at some stage or another, so I figured what’s the big deal about getting it done so early?
Plus I had to get it done when I was in Australia for a holiday, because its really difficult to find a place to pierce ears here in Matsuyama. As it was, I still had to go to about four or five different places in Perth before I found someone who was willing to do it.
FTR, my daughter has never had any infections in her ears, and loves the fact that she can wear earrings (she is five years old at the moment). Neither of us regret having had her ears pierced.
I don’t think infants should have their ears pierced, because it seems to be done solely on a parent’s whim. I think that the potential piercee should decide. For instance, I had my ears pierced at a relatively young age–5 or so. My mom says I wanted them, she warned me about the pain, but I went through with it anyway. Perhaps because of this, I don’t understand why so many parents make their girls (or boys, for that matter) wait until a specified age (13, 16, 18, whatever) until they get them pierced. I don’t think it’s really that big of a thing–it’s pretty safe, pretty common, and is easily reversible.
I wouldn’t till she’s older, simply because kids do play rough, and having an earring pulled through one’s earlobe is painful. Also, she can take them out and lose them.
I had to wait until I was 14 to have my ears pierced, basically because my parents didn’t want to have to deal with the upkeep required during the first few weeks. When I was younger, and wanted to wear earrings, my mom got me a bunch of costume jewelry clip-ons. It was kind of cool.
I think it makes sense to wait until a girl is able to take care of a piercing afterwards. Besides, what if the baby’s ears get infected? I never understood the attraction in getting a baby’s ears done.
