How to Get Baby's Ears Pierced

Let me start by saying that I am 100 percent convinced that getting a baby's ears pierced is not a health or safety issue. In my home country, our ears are pierced at 2 days old and it was never an issue. Infant ear piercing is more of a cultural issue than a health issue. With that being said, I come from a culture where infant girls get their ears pierced, so I got my babies' ears pierced. Here's how

1. Wait until the babies are 2 months old and have got their first DTaP shot. In the US, no one will pierce your babies' ears until they have got this shot.
2. Obtain your vaccination records from your pediatrician and take that with you
3. Decide if you want to use your doctor's office. Most pediatricians are moving away from offering ear piercing services and those that do seem to have a lot of hoops to jump through. My pediatrician did not offer this service so I had to consider my alternatives
4. Decide on alternative piercing locations. The options available to me were Claire's and Merle Norman. I chose Claire's as they are in almost every mall.
5. Call the store location and verify that there's someone with infant ear piercing experience to do the job
6. Choose a weekday morning where there will be fewer people in the mall and the store attendant won't be rushed
7. Go after a feeding. I find that my babies are less upset about a lot of things when they have a full belly
8. Choose earrings that are at least 14 carat gold to minimize the chances of an allergic reaction. Also ensure there is sufficient space between the earring back and the stud so that both are not in contact with the ear lobe at the same time
9. Follow the after-care instructions to the letter. That will include cleaning the ears twice a day with a special solution and rotating the earrings for 8 weeks post-piercing
10. Keep original earrings on for at least 6 months

That's how I pierced my two girls ears when they were 10 weeks old. They cried minimally during the actual piercing and look totally girly and adorable in their pink flower earrings.


Start building your little girl's jewelery collection with 14 carat gold earrings for kids from Amazon. Click here to start shopping.


Here are some beautiful stud earrings to start you off.