Piercing My Dds Ears...

You just asked how to lower the risk of infection after piercing your daughters ears- There is only 1 way to prevent infection.- Don't put holes in your sensitive infant daughters ears. In the last year, 2 of my friends have removed earrings from their infant daughters ears after getting awful bloody pus infections. Good luck to you! Yes, I know, TOTALLY rude, but just sayin'.

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Are you going to take any family with you? Your mom, sisters, etc? That would be so cool! Lots of pictures and everything! Have lots of fun. This would make a cool Girls' Day Out for y'all! Have fun!

This may sound odd, but I chose a professional piercer to redo mine. I highly recommend it. This all they do, all day long. You can go in and take a look at where they do it. At Claire's and other places kids can go and climb on the piercing chair all day long and it doesn't get wiped off. I'm not a big "anti-bacterial hand lotion person" but we're ARE talking about an invasive medical procedure and about preventing infection for YOUR BABY :)

The parlor was a VERY nice place. The room was sterile just like a doctor's office. The piercer himself MUST be licensed, whereas at Claire's they are just trained to use that little gun but not liensed. He washed his hands and put on gloves BEFORE he touched me or anything he used on me. He used a NEW, just-out-of-a-sterile-package needle, AND HE PUT A TOPICAL ANESTHETIC on to numb my ears and waited for it to take effect. I didn't feel a thing and am happy I did it there. I bought the piercing earring from Wal-Mart because the ones at the parlor would make too big of a hole, so buy the infant peircing earrings before you go. It is NOT EXPENSIVE!

With the professional piercer, since he uses just a needle he can put it exactly on the mark. With the piercing gun they THINK they have it on the mark but a lot of times it ends up way off the mark because they can't see if the point is centered on it.

The reason I even looked at Piercing/Tattoo Parlors is because my ears had gotten infected (allergic to a certain pair of earrings) and closed up about ten years ago and Wal-Mart and Claire's "weren't allowed to pierce through scar tissue bumps" because that had to with being licensed. I wish I had taken my daughter when she got hers done at age 7 a couple of years ago just because of the pain issue, even though that part is pretty quick and she was a real trooper :)

Now, as for a solution for ear sanitizing and healing: My daughter received a BIG bottle of "Claire's Ear Solution" as part of the Piercing Package. It has no alcohol in it so there is not the sting in the new piercings like when we were kids and had to put alcohol on a cotton ball. This stuff is anti-bacterial, I think, and works great. I used it on my ears, too. So even if you don't have your daughter pierced at Claire's I would still buy their solution.

My reaon for when my daughter chose to pierce her ears was only because I enjoyed when my sisters and I all had them done together (I was 12 in 1982). It was a fun Sisters Day and I wanted to do that with my daughter. When you get your daughter's ears pierced is up to you :D
Hope this helps.

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I only wished I had not passed this time to pierce!!!! You are NOT wrong!!!
I will tell you one thing....I had 16 piercings when I went in for a scheduled c-section....(had to take them out :( DO NOT USE PEROXIDE!!!! That will attempt to "heal" the hole... turn the earings a couple of times a day (with clean hands) and only use a small amount of rubbing alcohol to avoid infection. Thats it...other than that, leave them alone.
Congrats on that lil' darlin's ears!!!! (I wish I would have done it sooner!!!!)

EDIT... Boy, these Momas are fast!!!! I just read the answers....I am taking my "no peroxide" use from a tatoo/piercing establishment. When I say "piercing" MY ears, I mean piercing cartilage and so forth. The guy that did 3/4's if mine always said NO PEROXIDE...I never had a problem.

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well i circumcised my son and so i can't imagine that i 'tcan gripe about ear piercing. = )

got mine pierced at 9 and as i remember it...the biggest tip was to spin the piercing frequently...so that as it heals, you do not give any scabbing a chance to crust up. so keep spinning them...after purell-ing your hands of course. = ) I also think we were told to use peroxide on the lobes.

i think the biggest risk to piercing is infection and maybe you have an advantage there because at 4 months...she can't really be constantly touching her own ears like we did as young girls. but that brings up a question...how will you keep an infant from swatting at her ears and perhaps actually catching hold of them and yanking...hard?

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We did our daughters' at Claire's when she was about 9 months old. We called ahead and made sure there were 2 workers there so they could do it at the same time. She didn't "cry" but a couple big tear drops fell from her eyes. That's it! (I cried though........LOL.)

I cleaned them with the solution and turned them a lot. We didn't change her earings until recently (she is 5 1/2) and that's when they got infected for the FIRST time! So I put her good starter earings back in and they healed right up!

I believe my family (who also pierced all ears @ this age or younger, including myself) always just used regular old peroxide on a Q-tip, swirl it around the edges and make sure to give them a turn or two at least 2x a day...once in the a.m and once in the p.m!

I wanted to get my daughter's ears done when she was a baby...but man O' man did my hubby throw a FIT! Now, we will be waiting till she asks for them herself...I am crossing my fingers that she will want them in Kindergarten!!

My daughter was much older but what I remember the most was after she got an infection once, it really helped to dip the earring posts into an anti-bacterial cream before inserting into her ears. Helped a lot.

It's a tradition in my family too. Back in the day I got my ears pierced when I was a week old. Unfortunately I had to wait to get my daughters done till she was 7 months, but you're doing it at a great age! I cleaned my little ones ears with the solution they gave and a q-tip. I also got some sterile saline from walgreens and when I gave her a bath would blast them then too.
Also make sure you turn them a lot (I know you already knew this, LOL) but as you do you can put the solution on it again and it soothes as the earring if it stuck a little bit. My daughter's ears didn't even get red, and she took to it really well. Oh and before we went I gave her some tylenol.
I took my daughter to a jewelers to have it done, I just didn't trust the people at the mall, they all looked really inexperienced.
I think it's such a special experience! Take lots of pics, and have fun!

I had my daughter's ears pierced at 3 mos by her pediatrician. I would suggest you do the same--have the pediatrician do it. They had me mark her ears and the Dr came in and did the piercing and told us how to care for them. It was not hard to care for them. I strongly recommend having the pediatrician do it.

I had both my daughters' ears pierced at 3 months at a store in the mall, just as my mother did with me. I'm now over 30 and my girls are 8 and 10 and we have never had an infection or any other problem with our pierced ears. It was no different than them getting vaccinations. My babies cried with the piercing. I breastfed them immediately after and they were fine. I gave them a pain releiver the first day the same as I would with vaccinations. The store provided me with a new piercing kit that included an earcare solution. I made sure we used the steel post earrings specific for ear piercing. The instructions are to apply the solution twice a day with a cotton swab and turn the earrings at least one time completely. You also should not remove the earrings for at least six weeks. I left my girls earrings in for at least six months before I changed them. They never touched nor tugged on their earrings. I only allow them to wear 10 kt gold, or sterling silver earrings which are not very expensive, but still look nice. There are also hypo-allergenic earrings for folks with sensitive skin. I watch my daughters' ears carefully for a couple of days each time they wear new earrings to make sure they do not have any reaction to the metal. Sometimes infections develop because of the childs sensitivity to the metal in the earring, not because of the fact that the ear is pierced. The same thing could happen with clip on earrings. The only friend I have with a daughter who had a problem with pierced earrings is based on her skin condition, not the earrings. I have hundreds of friends who pierced their daughter's ears at a young age with no problems and no infections.
It would be ideal to have a pediatrician pierce your child's ears because you should trust your pediatrician and feel more comfortable. Most pediatrician's don't pierce ears and when they do, they do it very infrequently. If you get a manager at a store like Claire's to do the piercing, they generally pierce ears more frequently than a doctor.

I did my daughters at 4 months too! I put her in a front pack/baby bjorn so she could not wiggle that much. They did one ear at a time and she only cried because she was being held still.

My daughter has very sensitive skin and so I am staying with gold earrings for a few years. My experience is to keep piercing earrings in her ears for a long, long time. They are hypoallerenic, have the snap post so they don't fall out (as much) and then the backs are not right up against the ear (when I didn't use piercing earrings, the backs irritated her ears). Look around, there are so many cute piercing earrings these days!!

I did my daughters ears at 6 months and I feel like that was the perfect age. For one when i went there she did cry but only for like a minute. And they will give you ear cleaning solution to clean her ears with. You have to do it 3 times a day which is so easy when they are little. I did it when I had her laying on the changing table first thing in the morning, right before afternoon nap and then again right before bed. As long as you clean them like this you shouldn't get any infections. Also they say to leave them in for at least 6 weeks before putting in new ones but I even waited longer than that because I just wanted to make sure I didn't cause any infections. Also when I was picking out the type of earrings I got really small ones so they didn't bother her when she was sleeping. But really when they are young like this it makes it really easy.

I think you're smart to do it at that age. I didn't really think about it until my daughter asked at age 4, and it went fine, but at the same time I decided to pierce my then-15 month old's ears too. She screamed so loud, people came running from the mall into the Claire's store thinking some child was being murdered in there! Ugh!

Anyway, since we just did it at Claire's, they give you the antiseptic as part of the ear-piercing package, and I just swabbed it onto their ears twice a day, rotated the earrings... that was about it! It will be easier for you since your little one isn't going to yank on them or anything like that, like older girls will sometimes.

I think babies with pierced ears are cute! =)

I did my daughter's ear when she was 3mo. at the mall. Make sure you bring her shot records.They need to see if she is all caught up with her shots. She is now 14mo. AND I'M SO GLAD I DID IT!!! Make sure you twist the earrings & keep her ears clean. :)

T.

PS she only cried for a few seconds

When I was thinking about getting my DD ears pierced someone mentioned keeping in mind that her ears will grow so make sure you take that into account when you choose the location of the piercing.

In the end I didn't get my daughter's done because I caved to people telling me it's not right to make that decision for her. She's 2 1/2 now and is asking me to have her ears pierced - go figure. In retrospect, I should have just had them done =)

I would mark her ears myself before going to get them done with a marker. I had to have one of my daughter's redone as they move so much at this age and it was way off. I took a measuring tape and made sure they were even instead of relying on them to do it.

My daughter was 5 mos when she got her ears pierced......best decision ever. She is 8 and I can assure you that she would have not let me or anyone touch her ears. I had a Pediatrician pierce her ears. They used a numbing ointment then the Nurse pierced both ears. She never had any problems with infection or irritation. Once her earrings are in place make sure to move the earing around so it does not get stuck. Use hydrogen peroxide to clean the area well. Alcohol will dry the skin and it could burn her.

Good luck,
mommy of T.

We pierced my dd's ears when she was 12 months old. The place should give you a cleaning solution. We just cleaned the ears every couple of hours just to be on the safe side. Also make sure you turn the earing post everyday also so that the skin doesn't regrow around the earring. If she has longer hair make sure her hair doesn't get tangled in the earrings as well.

Good luck!

Both my girls had their ears done around this age, Im really into piercings and tats so it was just natural for us! They gave us a bottle of solution, told us to clean i think 3 or 4 times a day, and to rotate it. Neither my girls ever had issues. My best friends daughter's ear did get infected but she found out she needed to wear a certain gold, like 24k or something like that. After she switched to different earings she was fine as well. Good luck and it will be harder on you than her!