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Uh....what?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but I don't see how exactly your post is a response to mine.

I'm very strongly against infant ear piercings. Funny thing is, I have 22 piercings myself, AFTER taking some out, and I actually worked for awhile doing piercings.

However... everyone who came to me and wanted a piercing, and even all of my own, were a personal decision. With that decision, they were accepting the pain, the cleaning routine, the risks and the ridicule that can come from having piercings.

I got my first holes done when I was four. I went to the mall with my mom, and the girl infront of me was older than me, and bawled her eyes out. It scared me, but I still went back and had it done anyway (not nearly as bad as that girl made it out to be).
My sister, however, didn't get her ears pierced until she was... um... 21, 22? (I did them, I should know, ack!)

Not only is it unneccesary pain for an infant, but they are so little that they have NO clue of what's happening, may pull on the earrings and cause an infection, may pull OUT the earring and swallow it, and unlike a shot, it can hurt to sleep on pierced ears for a little while.

Lorien, ah, I love you! You did so much of my work on this topic for me. There are SO many things wrong with piercing guns that it's surprising to me that they haven't been made illegal for sanitary reasons alone! Not to mention all the issues with the way they pierce, and with the jewelry.

Okay, to avoid a ear gun/Claire's debate all together, I'll get onto a new point, but please, NEVER USE the crap they give you to "clean" with at stores, and do NOT rotate the piercing.

Anyway, I've discovered that if you beg your pediatrician, they will usually pierce an infant's ears for you in their office, with sterile, practically jewelry and give you REAL advice on aftercare. So, if you HAVE to do it, please go that route.

I totally agree with you 3nodding I also got my ears peirced when I was a baby and I'm glad I did. That's one thing I don't have to worry about now.

I disagree with your statments on circumcision I have 2 boys both of whom are circumcised NOT for religious reason and defanitly not for looks what so ever, when my first son was born I didnt want to put him through the whole process of being circumcised so I waited and waited and by the time he was 2 he was constantly getting bladder infections do to his foreskin being unclean (this was not my fault by this time he had been potty trained and taught how to make sure he was clean do there) now unfortunatley the longer you wait to have this done the more work it can be and the harder it can be to make sure it is healed properly and stays clean enough. Oh and fyi it is also considered more painful for the child. Anyways he had to be circumcised and at the time I was already pregant with my other son. So it was very hard on me and him after the process was done with he ended up in the hospital 5 time due to riping stitches (yes they had to use real stitches insead of the liquid kind due to alerges), falling and hurting that area (which caused ALOT of swealling), just being a little boy and getting dirt in that area causeing infection, and so on. So when I had my second son I just had it done when he was 2 days old and it was sooooooooooo much easier on me and him then it was with his older brother.

Well, first let me say that "younger than an infant" means you haven't been born yet.
Just because at 13 girls wanted theirs pierced doesn't mean it's a good idea to do it when they're babies. The girls who didn't have them done at 13 had mothers who didn't want them pierced. It has nothing to do with piercing a baby or not.

I CHOSE to have mine pierced when I was 4. Yep, that young. I was able to make the decision, knowing that it would hurt, seeing the girl infront of me cry, and I was also old enough to follow care instructions.
My baby cousin is 6 (okay, not so much a baby anymore) and just got hers pierced as well. She's old enough to make the decision on her own, and take care of them. She's almost in first grade, whereas I was in preschool. I think that's young enough.

It's unnecessary pain to an infant. Also, think about when you got yours done, if you have. They hurt for a few days to sleep on. Is that fair to a little baby to hurt when she lays her head down because you think it looks pretty? I don't really think so.
Plus, they will pull on the earrings, which will hurt and possibly cause infection, they can EAT the earrings, which if get lodged can require surgery to remove, and for all you know, when they grow up they may not want to have them done.

Seriously, if a 4 year old and a 6 year old can make an educated decision and are capable of proper care, why is it at ALL necessary to do it any earlier than that? There's enough cute girlie clothes that you can make it obvious to anyone that your child is a girl without piercing their ears. Yes, it hurts for a few days, but at that point they KNOW why and they chose it, which is actually fair.

Again, to the quoted poster, it doesn't really matter if you have them done as an infant or a young child... when you've had a piercing long enough, you can take them out for relatively extended amounts of time as long as they're not infected. Taking OUT a piercing will NOT make your ear infected.

I got my ears pierced when I was 2 years old.

I am actually thankful my parents did this - I cannot remember the pain because I was only 2 at the time. If it had not been done, I would've had it done when I was 13 or so just to see what it was like, and I would have remembered the pain then. I've stopped wearing earrings for about 2 years now and the wholes have semi-grown back but that's because I just got tired of them get caught in my hair all the time (I have very curly, thick, frizzy hair).

I don't think that ear piercing an infant should be the parents' decision. Why? I got my ears pierced when I was 12, an age my mother got hers pierced, and I was expected to learn to be responsible and clean them twice a day. It kind of made the whole thing worth it when they finally healed and I could buy new, nice earrings and changed them. It gave me a sense of accomplishment like, hey, look at me! I took care of my ears and they didn't get infected and now I can wear all sorts of earrings. As lame as that sounds, I think it takes away from teaching a child how to go about being responsible with doing things on a regular basis and having very visible consequences if they do not. If the parents have an infant (who already has to go through things like vaccinations, which hurt a whole lot..) why would you put them through an ear piercing if you're the one that has to take care of it, and cause your child a feeling of pain that really is only for vanity's sake? At least wait until the child decides yes, I want my ears pierced, and yes I am ready for the responsibility of cleaning them. It's like taking your child to get their belly button pierced when they are that young. You wouldn't do that, would you?

Except for instances of cultural things, I think infant ear piercing is a bad idea.