Earrings for My 16 Month Old????

I have a 4 yo and I am waiting until she is old enough to take care of them and really want them. I had mine done for my 6th birthday. It was huge for me and i loved taking care of my ears. I found out I was highly allergic to most metals and can only wear certain expensive earings, and so I am glad my mother choose to wait. I also remember it as one of the best birthdays ever and it was such a great thing I want my daughter to have that. My daughter already asks and I say maybe when she is 5 or 6 since she isn't quite ready to care for them well yet and I think she is too oung should she react to the metals as I did.

I got my daughter's ears done at 3 months when the dr. said I could. She barely cried and taking care of them was easy. she has never fussed about them it was like they have always been there. She is 4 now and loves to change her "pretties" to match her outfit.

I was not allowed to get my ears done until I was 12, when I started modeling. Once I started that it was almost necessary because they did not have clip on earrings. I was mad because I wanted to get them done much earlier.

I got my daughters ears pierced when she was 12 months old. She was pretty good, she didnt really want the lady to do the second ear though, but they gave her a teddy bear and she was fine afer that. Just bring one of her favorite toys with you and also have someone else with you so someone can hold her and someone can distract her while they are piercing her ears.

I was the mother who said, "when she is older, I will get them done". Then when she started noticing what she would call "Ear pretties", she wanted them. I told her when she was older. At the age of 3 she asked me if she could get them done while we were at the mall(on Black Friday), and I explained to her that it is not just stickers...it is a hole in your ear, and it does sting like a shot(well she does not mind shots)...LOL...
I explained that she would have to learn to take care of them. She did great(yeah she cried cause it stung), but she learned how to turn them, and so forth. So...I say wait till she fully understands. I was 8 years old when I got mine done. Somedays I wish I would of said, "Not today" when my daughter ask me if she could.
We do not want them growing up too fast, society already pushes that enough.

Hello J.-
My advice (you asked for it) is to get her ears pierced when she is about 13-14 years old and can decide that she does want them pierced and you can make it some type of reward, eg good grades or exemplary charity work.
I am not sure what benefit there is to having pierced ears until then....and I believe strongly that we as a society push our children into adult type socialization without the maturity of wisdom or judgement in way too many ways. Keep babies looking like babies!!! They are only young once and you can't out a onesie on a 5 year old...
Sorry-its my personal crusade of "lets not dress the 6 year old girls like 18 year olds (Britney Spears lookalikes."
Andre

My children got their ears pierced when they were old enough to decide for themselves, and old enough to follow through and take care of their ears. All 4 girls got their ears pierced, but only 2 of them have holes now -- the other two didn't want to bother with earrings in the end, and simply let them grow closed.

I don't think piercing of any kind should be done until a child is old enough to consent.

I waited until my daughter was around 6 or 7 and made the decision for herself that she wanted them and she understood the responsibility of caring for them.

My vote is to wait.

I had my daughter's ears pierced right after se hd her tetanus shot...think she was either 8 or 10 weeks. She has never played with them or tried to rip them out and she just turned 3. She lets me change them on a regular basis and clean them. no problems here! Good Luck with your decision.

I do not have a little girl but my brother and sister in law have a little girl. They thought that it would be a decision she could make when she was old enough and could take care of the earrings herself. They wanted her to have a choice in the matter. It sounds like you are busy enough. Do you want to take care of this too? What is she gets an infection? I would wait til she is older and let her decide if she wants her ears pierced or not.

J.,

I got my daughters ears peirced when she was 4 months old. It is your discretion when to get them done. They are not too much to take care of. It is actually easier since really she didn't know they were there. Easy to clean and turn. As long as you keep them clean and free of debris you should be fine. The hardest part since she is 16 months old is getting her to sit still and have them done. Good Luck! and when they heal I suggest getting hooped clip earrings that won't fall out easy. Once I was able to change my daughters earrings which I did when she was like 10 11 months old i used hoops.

Sounds like a great celebration to save for when she starts first grade!

I know how tempting that is! I was SO tempted to get my daughters ears pierced when she was a baby (especially since everyone was always mistaking her for a boy!--Even if she was dressed in pink it would happen!)

There are a few problems with getting any small child's ears pierced.

First of all, it is a form of body modification that's not being left up to the "owner" of that body. Second, I have several friends who got their ears pierced as babys/toddlers & now have VERY STRANGE looking holes because their ears, of course, grew & the holes are now either WAY too high on their lobe or WAY too low. One of my friends has holes that are SO high that she can't wear most small hoops & thinks that it just looks so silly that she has refused to wear earrings in years.

Another problem is that when anybody gets their ears pierced w/ a "gun" that it uses blunt force trauma to shove the earring through the skin. It's very painful & the stud traps a lot of bacteria between itself & the ear, which gets shoved further & further into the hole when the earring is "twisted" several times a day.

IF you choose to have it done, I HIGHLY suggest going to a good tattoo/piercing studio to have it done. The equipment is 100% sterilized (not so w/ a gun--there is NO way to properly sterilize plastic & piercing guns have been associated w/ Hep. B outbreaks!!!). It's done w/ a very sharp needle & a pair of clean hoops, which trap much less bacteria than studs do.--Many places will even let you bring your own if you so choose.

We left this choice up to our daughter, who decided to get it done back in May (she was 5). I took her to a tattoo shop & she did awesome! She was SOOO proud of herself! It was a huge accomplishment for her b/c it was something that she was very nervous about but really wanted done. Her ears never got even the tiniest bit red, inflamed, infected....nothing! What a huge difference!--I have my ears pierced quite a few times & they were all done w/ a gun & I recall very well how they throbbed for days.

Anyway! It is up to you as her mother to decide what you want to do. But if you do choose to have it done, again, I really hope that you can find a tattoo shop to have it done in. You'll pay a little more, but it's well worth it!

Good luck!!!

I got my daughters earrings when she was 12 month old and she cried when it was being pierced but she was fine the next day. I didn't even apply the alcohol they gave me because she didn't let me . She was fine. I just left the earring as it was. They say that you should twist it once daily etc etc... but I did nothing of that sort because I think it hurts that way more. I just left the earring as is without touching it . But making sure that its dried up pretty nicely after her bath. It was no problem at all for me.

I got my daughters done at 6 months. I don't know if the pediatricians in PA do them but I used to live in Texas and the Dr's would do them as young at 2 months as long at the baby baby was up to date with their shots. Some get them done at the mall but I preferred to have it done by the Dr. The younger they are the less it will hurt is my option because their ear lobes are not as thick.

I actually tossed the idea around for awhile too with getting my daughters ears pierced. I got them done last Christmas, when she was a year old. She screamed when they did them, but they gave her a lollipop afterwards and she was fine. One mistake I made was that I didnt turn them enough and when I went to take them out and put other earrings in, the skin had grown over on the one ear, so we had a really hard time with that. Then soon after, she pullled those earrings out and lost them. I am thinking we didnt have them on tight enough because we had such a hard time getting the one in and that is why she was able to pull them out. But other than that, she doesnt bother them and they dont seem to bother her. The important thing is, like I said, to make sure you turn them daily, especially if you dont change the earrings everyday. All in all, it went pretty good, and I think little girls look adorable with them in! :)

I'm waiting until my 4 yo is old enough to want them and yes old enough to take care of them.
But more i want it to be a special occasion, a coming of age bonding thing we can do together not just a whiny, whim when we are out shopping. These are her ears and her body and i think she should have a say in it.

I have four daughters. We wait until they are old enough to tell us they want it done. One was age 10 years, one age 5 years, one age 7 years and one is eight years old and doesn't have them done yet. I personally don't feel you should do it to an infant or toddler.

I have two daughters ages 9 and 2. Neither one of them has pierced ears. I briefly considered having their ears pierced when they were young like my mother did with me at age 4. I decided that if I did it that young, I would have to be the only one taking care of them. While there is some benefits to me taking care of the pierced ears myself, I decided that it was better to wait until my daughters are old enough to take on some of that responsibility for themselves.

I got my daughters ears done when she was 11 months old. Im glad I did it then it was easier for me to take care of them instead of having to fight with a pre-teen to make sure they are cleaned daily.

She never and still at 32 months old doesnt tug, pull or try to take them out. She did give me some trouble at first when it came to change them but now she will get her earring holder and ask me to change them. Her's do stay in all the time so the hole wont close up on her.

Hope this helps. Its not that hard to keep them clean when they are little. And they look so cute. lol

HI J., Some people say that if you want to peirce ears you should either do it before they are 4months old or wait...and I have three girls and we waited. When each of my girls turned 6 I asked them if they wanted their ears peirced (of course they said yes) and off we went... Frankly I am glad we waited it turned out that my oldest is allergic to metals...and the infections were horriable!! She ended up letting her ears close up to finally heal and we waited about 3 yrs before trying again (unsuccessfully)with another type of earring. She is almost 18 now and still doesn't have pierced ears after trying sensitive, nickle-free, stearling silver, surgical steel, 14 & 18k gold. Of the other two only one had no problems...my youngest had a horriable infection on one ear and we ended up having to re-perice after a long healing process. I am glad we waited so that the girls could help take care of their ears and tell me when problems started. Good luck with your decision! Best wishes.

You are going to find differing opinions on this from one extreme to another.

For me, I didn't want it done with my daughter until she was old enough to take care of them herself. Well, this summer, Dad and daughter (4) wanted them done. It took a while to talk me into it but I finally relented. She's been very good with them. My biggest concern was her triplet brothers and whether they'd rip them out with all their wrestling. They've all been fine. They do need to stay in 4-6 weeks, being cleaned a couple times a day and rotated. My daughter has thick ear lobes so the child ones didn't work for her. The posts weren't long enough after we bought new ones after the piercing posts and the backs were very tiny. So we took those back and bought adult ones for her. If they're too tight it can cause infections and problems. You'll need to keep some kind of earrings in for at least 6 months straight after piercing. You can change them out after the first month and they're healed but can't leave them out for quite a while. Do buy a good quality gold earring to be sure there's no allergies to the cheaper metals. Better safe than sorry. 14K gold. They'll still need to be cleaned now and then. Check them often to see how they're doing after healing.

It think at 16 months, it comes down to whether you want to deal with them or not. If you have the time and patience, it should be fine. They don't come out for a month, just cleaned daily. Then change them out as often as you feel like, every week or every month. Just clean them now and then.

We went to the Piercing Pagoda. They give a cleaning solution and we bought cotton balls. I'd wet one side with the solution, flatten it out and put it in between the lobe and earring, front and back sides, then turned them. Do that twice a day, especially after baths before bed in case any soap gets stuck in there. Just use the other side of the cotton ball, flattened, for the other ear.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Hello J.,

My daughter is 19 months old and we got her ears pierced on her four month birthday. At that point, she was too young to play with them, and by the time she was old enough to play with them, she was already used to them.

They are extremely low maitnenance. The only problem we had was when we would change her clothes and accidentally pull one out of her ear, losing either the back or the earring itself. Now, she is wearing the tiny loops that hook into themselves, so there are not parts to lose.

At sixteen months old though, it may not be a good time - she may play with them and pull them out of her ears before they are healed. You know her best - if she is a child who likes barrettes, hats, etc, maybe the earrings will not bother her either.

Good luck,
L.

I also have a 16 month old daughter, people told me to do it early before 3 months, so shed be too young to play with them. i didnt listen becase i felt that was too young. now i wish i had! ive done some research on it and i dont know about your daughter but mine would not leave them alone, and ive found that most people say do it early or wait till they are old enough to understand not to mess with the earings. i figured i would ask my pediatrition about it, but am pretty sure i am going to wait till she is 3 or 4. if you do decide to do it now, please let me know how it works out for you!

My daugthter got hers pierced at 9 months. Her dr did it for us. I also had mine done at 9 months my daughter never played with them she let's me take them out and clean them with no problems. She still has the same earings for 2 years now. She 3 1/2 now.

I have 3 daughters myself--ages 8 and 4 yr old twins. None of them have their ears pierced and none has mentioned anything about getting them done. My older one has come home and mentioned periodically that one of her friends had theirs pierced and that's as far as things have gone. I had gotten mine done at the age of 5 and found at a very early age I am allergic to "cheaper" earrings. I can have absolutely no nickel at all in any of my jewelry or I have incredibly sore ears for a week or more after. I know there are thousands of parents who have had their little girls' ears pierced at extremely early ages, but when it comes to doing something to their body--I mean absolutely no offense to anyone when I say this--I believe that decision should be up to the little girl.