Sunday, February 28, 2016

Piercing Baby's Ears


I have gotten a lot of questions about piercing Emma's ears ever since people started noticing her earrings in her pictures, so I figured I would write about my experience and share it with y'all!

I also figured I would write a little guide for things to consider before/after you pierce baby's ears.

Make sure both parents agree.
So first, you should talk to your significant other. I feel like every decision, not just baby's body "modification" (haha) should be made with baby's mommy and daddy together. Usually dad will agree and be ok with mom about piercing baby's ear (unless you are MY dad) but definitely make sure that it's a mutual decision.
Two conversations I knew I was going to have with hubby before baby was born were:
Boy- Circumcision & Girl- Piercing Ears.
When I found out we were having a girl, I brought it up to him:
Me- "I think I want to pierce Emma's ears as soon as I can, what to you think?"
Jaime- "I agree! I think it's cute and will make her look girly!"
That was easy! :) The only time he acted like it was my decision was in front of my dad, haha!

Decide on when you want to do it.
We got Emma's ears pierced on her 3 month check up appointment at the doctor's office.
I was all about doing it and so excited, but once the nurse brought in the kit and started marking Emma's ears I freaked out a little bit. I was like "oh my gosh I don't know, my poor baby", plus I didn't like the way the nurse was making the markings, so I guess I annoyed her and she just asked me if I wanted to mark them myself, to which I replied SURE! And I did. I must have erased and re-marked her ears like 6 times before I was happy with it haha. Also, her pediatrician advised that we do it as early as possible because the older baby gets, the squirmier and harder to hold down. So keeping that in mind, helped me decide to do it at 3 months.

Decide on where you want to do it.
Like I said, Emma got her ears pierced at the doctor's office. I'm pretty sure her doctor said that they don't do it past 4 months there. So, if your baby is older than 4 months and the pediatrician won't do it in the office, there are other places who will pierce baby ears. I have seen places at the mall that do it, and one of my friends even took her kid to a tattoo/piercing parlor haha!
But, wherever you decide to take your baby, if not the doctors office, make sure that the place is clean and safe, and of course make sure that they have trained and experienced people to do the piercing.

Be prepared!
Baby is going to cry. But I promise you she will be ok. Emma cried, she wiggled and screamed, and hubby had to hold her down with the nurse to get the second ear pierced. Make sure it's quick so you can soothe baby ASAP. After she was done, I picked her up right away, gave her a pacifier and cuddled her, and she stopped crying almost instantly. After that she didn't even seem to notice her ears at all.

Taking care of baby's new earrings.
I would say taking care of baby's new piercing is pretty much low maintenance. I was told to leave it alone for 2 days, and then clean it with alcohol swabs and turn them every day for 2 weeks.
Nowadays I just make sure to turn it every now and then, and dry it after it gets wet in the bath.

I can honestly say that I think I made a good decision by choosing to pierce Emma's ears when I did.
I was going to pierce her ears eventually anyway, so why not do it early when it would be easier for both of us? So that's what I did. And she looks even cuter than before!

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I'll reply!
Happy Ear Piercing!

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