Posted byMorgan’s six-year-old wants her ears pierced, but Morgan doesn’t want a piercing gun to be the way it happens. What should they do?
My daughter has asked to get her ears pierced for her sixth birthday next month. I’ve had nine piercings and I’ve always known I would not let a piercing gun touch my kids [ed note: here’s why some feel piercing guns are dangerous].
I’m interested in taking her to a piercing studio, but I wanted to ask — what options do we have? And is it hard to find a piercer who will take kids?
My mother did mine with a piercing gun when I was a baby. Of course she was licensed too. :-p I think I want my mom to do the same thing to our little one when she decides to make an appearance (August here we come!). Probably wait until she is not such a newbie of course. I loved the fact I didn’t have to worry about the pain as a teen and I loved my piercings as a young girl. Alot of my friends had trouble with the them getting infected when they were teens, but I’ve noticed in my group, those who got them younger didn’t have much of an issue with that.
I would look around and interview the person doing the piercing for sure. I didn’t know pediatricians could do it. That’s something new to me. Makes sense though.
One of her things was that I wasn’t allowed to get a second ear piercing until I was older. :-p And only ear! Though I never did. Just have one in each ear. I did want a belly ring for a while, but really am glad I never went that route. I’m not one for pain. lol
Oh totally forgot to mention….if anyone has noticed their bub pulls on their ears while teething….that’s a big reason waiting until they are older and can ask….i remember being all pissed off that I had too wait untill I was 7 lol
For those considering this: http://www.compunction.org/guns.txt
I am going to be an old fogey and say that I don’t really approve of kids getting pierced before they are 11 or 12 at least. But at the same time, as long as they are old enough to ask for it, 6 or 7 is pretty reasonable for ears. Definitely go to a responsible piercing professional. A properly done hollow-needle piercing with the right jewellery might possibly hurt more, but the long-term consequences are much less. And I say that as someone who has had both gun and proper piercings.
check out the local piercing laws in your area. I live in Texas and have been informed that there are no licenses or laws required for piercers by my tattoo artist. Kind of freaked me out. May be safer to go another route.
I think it’s cultural, but I had my ears pierced at one of my very first pediatrician appointments when I was born. Heaven forbid anyone should mistake me (a tiny Hispanic baby girl) for a boy! (Like the pink lace and hair bows didn’t give it away) Worst possible insult to a Latin mother. Being very conservative, my mother never would have taken me anywhere near a piercing/tattoo shop that young, but that was back in the early 80’s. Everything turned out fine and my holes are even and normal (being raised in south FL with a large Hispanic population, baby ear piercings were very common for pediatricians to do) but I am very glad that there are safer, cleaner, just more in general options out there for baby/child ear piercing.
Go to an audiologist! They know everything about ears, and I know a few who will do it (or at least give recommendations).
Both my parents are audiologists, haha, so I’m a little biased.
I wish, wish, wish that I had gotten my ears pierced by a professional piercer, but I had mine done in the late eighties when that possibility was not on the radar. Fortunately my mom insisted on me performing good after-care on myself so I never had any infections or bruising. But my holes are so jagged inside that putting earrings in is really painful.
I’m just wondering, are there any children’s books that describe the process of getting piercings in piercing shops and the sort of aftercare a child should perform?