Ear piercing... What age?

[jamilynn84]

I'd like some opinions on ear piercing...

What age do you feel is it best or alright to pierce a girl's ears?

Apologizing in advance for iPhone typos/autocorrect

[molly2419]

I'm waiting for her to ask me to take her. If she never asks, that's ok with me(she about to turn 6). She has asked me questions about the process of getting it done. She's not interested because it will hurt lol

[Brooke789]

Another for waiting for her (or him!) to ask.

My ears were pierced as an infant and honestly I'd always thought that the placement of mine always seemed so much more perfect than those who got them later on in life. That could be a total coincidence, but either way I want my daughter to have a choice.

[swingkid1975]

I might ask her if she wants it done when she turns 5 or 6, but not before then. I had pierced ears but my holes closed up. I figure if she wants to have them pierced we can turn it into a mommy/daughter day and I'll also get mine re-pierced.

[jeebee]

When they ask for it and are able to take care of it. personally we will probably do it as a 'reward' for something or for a birthday present etc. My friend's daughter was 7 and still wet the bed regularly, and finally she figured out that something her daughter would really like was to have her ears pierce. So she made a deal that if her bed was dry for a whole month she could have them done. Needless to say, the bribery worked!

[beaute_marquee]

She has to be old enough to ask, old enough to take care of them herself, old enough to go to a real piercing parlor instead of Claire's or something like that, and old enough for me to be comfortable with her getting a Hep B vaccine.

[MilaniasSuperMomma]

Hmmm my baby is 4 months and got her ears pierced last month. I feel it's easier because she doesn't mess with them and won't remember the pain. The care is quite easy and she looks soo cute and girly!

[Computermama]

DD just started asking, and she's 4. To me 4 is still too young, I have vivid memories of having to be held down while a day care worker dug a stud out of a very infected earlobe while my mother looked on in tears. I was probably about 5. So I'm thinking more along the lines of 8 years old, then if she still wants them we'll make a date of it, go get hers done at a tattoo parlor where they use real sterilized needles to do the piercing. But she has to be old enough to understand that we're putting holes in her body that will be there the rest of her life, that they need to be taken care of and that the process will probably hurt.

[iris0110]

I am another who lets the child ask. I prefer that they have a choice. Kearnan had his ear pierced at 5.5 when he asked to have it done. He had been spending a lot of time at the tattoo shop with dh and I while we got ink done and he liked spending time with the piercer there. After spending so much time with D (the piercer) he started asking for an earring for himself and when I explained to him what it would be like he still wanted it so I consented. We made it a special thing for him, and luckily D is very good with children. That brings me to my other issue, the subject of piercing guns vs piercing by a professional piercer. I would never allow my child to have a piercing done with a piercing gun. A professional piercer has to meet certain state requirements that a teen with a piercing gun does not. They apprentice under a professional before they are ever allowed to work on you or your child, again not true of your average mall piercer. A professional piercer uses a single use hollow tipped needle that removes a small piece of tissue vs a gun that cannot properly be cleaned and shoves a slightly sharpened object (the "piercing stud") through the ear causing tissue damage and swelling. A professional piercing simply provides a cleaner piercing and a better chance of proper healing. I have found piercers that will work with my children at a young age though I don't know about infants as I have never had the need.

[burnsis]

Whenever they decide...their body, their choice.