Ear Piercing Advise

WAIT. I applaud you for not piercing her ears as an infant (I deplore the thought of doing that to a baby-really, why?!?!), but at 6, she really is still too young to care for them herself. My daughter was made to wait until her 9th birthday, and it was a real mother-daughter experience! She was old enough to know it would sting, but excited enough about the big girl aspect that we had no problems. Best of all, even at 9, only about half of her school friends had it done already. Put it off for a bit. Orajel cant be applied to skin that is broken, or will be, just FYI. It is not sterile, and not appropriate for that use.

Victoria-how is she pushing her? she clearly stated that her daughter is wanting but is nervous.

What I would suggest is giving her a little bit of tylenol before you take her in.... 2 of my girls are pierced, 2 are not, I really wish I would of let my 2 eldest chose wether they wanted to be pierced vs me taking them in as newborns, but.....you live and learn. Now I'm excited for the day that my 2 youngest tell me that they're ready, I plan on making it a really special girls day out kinda thing with my 4 daughters and myself :) Good luck!!

give her some advil about a half hour before and that will help with the pain ( that is what our ped suggested). go to someplace that does both ears at the same time, that helps. Tell her that the pain only lasts a couple of mins. Let her watch someone else get theirs done ( hopefully its someone that doesn't over react to it!) Let her bring in a favorite stuffed animal to hug. If they do one ear and she doens't want the other one done, don't force her. Once she gets into the chair and before they do it if she changes her mind let her know its ok. Tell her it hurts when you stubbed your toe .. its kind of like that. It hurts at hurt a little but it goes away quickly.

My son had his done at 12 ( one ear) and he teared up but by the time we were out in the car he it was fine. Yes Im one of "those moms" and got my daughters ears done at 3 months and she was done crying even before I could turn her around to me. We have never had a problem with either my daughters ears or my sons.

I say wait. When she wants them pierced bad enough, she won't care about the pain.

My daughter wanted hers done for her 7th bday, but was also scared of the pain. I told her it would hurt and went onto YouTube and showed her videos of other 7 year olds getting their ears pierced. Some cried, some flinched, some didn't make a sound. After we watched some videos, she asked how soon we could go! Seeing other kids going thru it really helped her!

Why push her? If she is nervous and isn't ready to accept the pain that will come along with the piercing (yes, it's only for a moment, but then the keeping them clean, and the possibility of infection that does hurt and doesn't stop after 10 seconds)... then just wait. When she gets herself mentally ready, she'll let you know.

My daughter is not a girly girl. She never likes to wear dresses or pink or anything even remotely similar. No purses. No cute hairdos. She likes her jeans and Tshirts.
She is 10, almost 11, and it wasn't until last fall that she expressed an interest in getting her ears pierced. I didn't push her.... I explained how they did it, let her see someone else getting theirs pierced, and let her know that when she was ready, IF she wanted to have hers done, then I would take her to get it done.
She decided a couple days later, and we went (right AFTER her karate class, b/c I knew she wouldn't be able to wear her head gear if they sparred in class). No big deal.
She did end up letting them get a little sore a bit since then, due to wearing the backs a tad too tightly.
Wait, and let your daughter be ready when you take her.

No, Orajel isn't going to help. I'd wait until she is older. The pain of the piercing isn't just when it's done. It is afterwards for several weeks. There's the turning, and the cleaning, and the gross gunk that comes out, and the omg pain if you happen to hit your ear...

Spoken from experience at the age of 21 when I was STILL a baby about the whole thing. I've read here that kids who get it done start having tantrums about cleaning them, and they end up infected. Forget that!

Dawn

A friend of mine let her daughter do it when her daughter was 6. She chose to do it...it was totally her choice, no pressure from mom. They went to Clair's. Clair's will do both ears at one time, which is a HUGE advantage. My friend's daughter cried a little bit because of the pain, but not very much. Afterwards they wet and got ice cream cones as a special reward for handling the pain so well.

I've got three piercings in each ear, and non of the hurt more than a few moments, it's like a vaccine or a tiny bee sting. Maybe the promise of a treat afterwards might help her make up her mind? :)

if she's not ready, she's not ready.

piercing your ears hurts. fact of life. it should be her choice, and she should be old enough to deal with a few seconds of pain. until she is, she's not ready.

I took my dd to claires...no pain, but I would suggest when you do the first change of earrings, to clean the earrings with hand sanitizer, then coat the post with polysporin...my dd had a minor infection and it cleared right up.

Wait until she is okay with the pinch of the earring gun. Also remember that kids like to touch them with possibly dirty hands and this makes them more susceptible to infections. As a parent I would not use medication for this. I also won'tgive my child Benadryl to get them to sleep so. I have an 11 yo with pierced and 8 and 4 not pierced.

Definitely go somewhere that does both ears at once. Sharkey' Cuts for Kids in Algonquin does. She would probably enjoy having it done in the glamour room with music on. Little distractions will help heri get over the little pinch she will feel. Tylenol after the piercing for any soreness. Just male sure you follow the cleaning instructions afterward so you don't let A. infection start and build. That will keep pain to a minimum. She will be fine!

I like the idea of watching the videos. I got my first set of earrings as an infant (and I LOVED having them when I was young...) and my second set when I was about 12. It really doesn't hurt much at all... and it lasts less than a minute. Prepare her as best you can, (videos and Tylenol),and if she still wants them done make a fun day of it. Don't make a big deal out of the pain... the more she thinks about it, the scarier it's going to seem. Go get pierced, let her pick out a few pairs of earrings she can wear when the holes heal, get some ice cream, have fun! :)

They are really quite easy to care for when it's done. Just use the cleaning solution they give you (or pick up a bottle of ear care stuff from Walmart) every few hours, keep her ears fairly clean, and you won't have any problems. We used to use a q-tip dipped in cleaning solution every night to wipe around the earring itself, to clear away any crust.

They do make topical stuff to numb before piercings though you might have to go to a tattoo shop. Or you can you the art of distraction that's what I did when I pierced my daughters ears a few weeks ago and she didn't even flinch.

I sort of agree with Penny. I have one dtr and a step dtr. I decided to wait until my dtr actually ASKED me to have it done. It took 11 years! LOL! And she was a tomboy so I thought it would NEVER happen! But even at 12 now, she sometimes has a hard time with them. So I would maybe wait until 10 (big double digit bday) and get it done then. Oh, and when you do, go somewhere where BOTH ears can be done at the same time. She said it didn't really hurt, but the noise of the "pop" when they squeeze the trigger scared her more. Good luck!!!

I would just tell her it's not a big deal, but it is the same as getting a shot at the doctor's - it's only a few seconds, and a lot of places will do both ears at the same time, so she only feels it once. But if it's really getting in the way of her deciding to get it done, then she's probably not ready. Then I would tell her when she is old enough to decide she's going to get it done no matter what, that's when she can do it.

definatley dont put orajel on her ear- bad idea.. if shes really that scared shes not ready.. i had mine pierced before i was even a year old supposedly i cried for a second n thats it.. since then i have 5 earrings in one ear and 3 in the other plus my nose n tongue.. its really not that bad just tell her its a pinch n then it throbs for a little while after .. i think the worst part of all of it is when u sleep at night after theyre done.. doesnt feel so good.. if she really really wants them done give her tylonal thats all u can do.. otherwise shes going to have to wait until shes not so afraid of the pain.. u cant put any kind of topical cream or whatever on her ear.. when they peirce it it will go inside her ear.. idk how the piercer will feel about this but u could always numb her ear lobes with ice cubes.. thats how my mom n her friends pierced their own ears as kids.. numb it with ice n then use a needle!!!

Tell her it will be quick and give her tylenol just before it's done. You might also prefer to have it done at the pediatrician's office, or ask a reputable ear piercer to do both ears at once. But if the fear of the pain really means she's not ready yet, get some coverters and let her wear clip ons for a while.

I wouldnt do orajel because the post going through would bring that stuff in and they will clean the lobes anyway. Does orajel even numb a ear lobe? Just let her know it stings but just for a little bit kind of like shots. Let her know that its more scary before than when it actually happens or afterwards and it is seriously over in like 2minutes and her ears will be pierced.

I will suggest Tylenol at least 1/2 hr before, and to compare pain it is like shot, that she can compare with.

Get her ready for workf after at least a moth, that does not hurt and heals just fine if you do it consistenetly. We did it a Piercing Pagoda. Some pediatricians may do it as well,

My 8 yr was terrified for a long time about it hurting. Finally she decided she wanted it done and I wanted her to do it before the fear set in again. Well, the piercing was nothing. She said it felt like a pinch and that was it. But....when it came time to change the earrings out, that is when the trouble started. We did it right before the 6 week time frame (I was getting ready to go to the hospital to have her sister and she was eager to have it done before I went into labor). Well, they set that time frame for a reason. She cried and screamed for hours before we got a new earring in the first ear. It took 2 of us to change the second one out the next day. Apparently we did it too soon and should have waited 9 or 10 weeks. After having them pierced for 6 months she decided to remove them (well, the dental technician told her she HAD to remove them) and not put new ones in and let them close up. I told her that it was fine to do that and next time she would be paying to have the piercing done with her own money. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't rushed into getting it done with her. I just remembered being 6 and having it done and having no trouble with it.