Let me start by saying that I am 100 percent convinced that getting a baby’s ears pierced is not a health or safety issue. In Nigeria where I was born, all little girls got their ears pierced before leaving the hospital after birth. It’s safe to say that opinions regarding infant ear piercing are more of a cultural issue than a health issue.
Now that I’ve thrown that caveat out there, here are some helpful tips for getting baby’s ears pierced:
- Wait until the babies are 2 months old and have got their first DTaP shot. In the US, no registered establishment will pierce a baby’s ears until the baby has received the first round of vaccines including the DTap. The tetanus part of this shot is what’s critical.
- Obtain your vaccination records from your pediatrician and take that with you to the piercing location. Again, most registered places won’t pierce a baby’s ears without sighting the vaccination records to confirm that the shots have been taken.
- The first option for piercing a baby’s ears is the doctor’s office. A lot of doctors have moved away from this providing this service but some still exist. However, they do seem to have a lot of hoops to jump through. Some alternatives are less cumbersome
- Alternative piercing locations for babies include Claire’s, Piercing Pagoda and Merle Norman to mention a few. All these locations are in or around a mall and it should be fairly easy to find one at a reasonable distance to you.
- Call the store location and verify that there’s an associate with infant ear piercing experience. Also verify the associate’s working hours and plan on visiting when he/she will be on duty
- Choose a weekday morning where there will be fewer people in the mall and the store associate won’t be rushed in attending to you. This is critical as there’s paperwork to be filled and babies do have a very short window of awake time
- Schedule appointment for shortly after a feeding. I find that my babies are less upset about a lot of things when they have a full belly
- Choose earrings that are at least 14 carat gold to minimize the chances of an allergic reaction. It’s also a good idea to verify that the space between the earring back and the stud is wide enough for baby’s ear lobe. The earrings come in a sterile packaging and are touch-free (the associate does not have to touch the earrings during the piercing process
- Follow the after-care instructions to the letter. That will include cleaning the ears twice a day with a special solution and rotating the earrings in the ear hole regularly for 8 weeks post-piercing
- Keep original earrings on for at least 6 months so that the hole is fully healed. Removing earrings before the 6 month mark can potentially lead to scarring or infection of the piercing site
That’s how I pierced my two girls ears when they were 10 weeks old. They cried minimally during the actual piercing and look totally girly and adorable in their pink flower earrings.
