Important Things You Need To Know Before Getting Your Child's Ear Pierced

There are parents who practice early ear piercing for their infants. Some even have their newborn baby's ears pierced by doctors.

Some parents choose to have their child pierced at a later age because they fear that babies might get infection in the process. As pointed out by Babycenter, not all procedures for the child or baby piercing are safe.

According to Parents, Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson said, "Any time you puncture the skin, you open up the opportunity for infection, and because infants still have developing immune systems, I encourage parents to wait until their child is at least 6 months old to get her ears pierced."

Children might get blood borne diseases like some specific types of hepatitis if the practitioner or the person performing the operation did not sterilize the tools properly. The common tools are piercing guns and the traditional piercing needles.

It is highly recommended that a doctor should be the one to perform such procedure for children. Here are some recommendations to make your daughter's experience less painful and traumatic.

-Applying topical numbing creams

This is a very common procedure done by professionals before piercing the ears. Applying the cream on the ear lobes an hour before piercing is the most effective way to lessen the pain.

-Applying ice over the ear or ear lobes

This is also effective before piercing the ear lobe. The pain receptors in the ears are temporarily numbed by the ice, but remember that this painless effect is temporary and won't last long.

-Choosing the right and safe earrings

There are a lot of options for choosing an earring that won't cause any allergies. You can have the hypoallergenic earrings, stainless surgical steel earrings and gold earrings. If your choice is gold, it should be 14 karat to avoid skin rashes.

-Caring for the pierced ear until it heals

Check for any signs of infection like redness, swelling or a feeling of pain. You can apply alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the wound. Just continue the application every the symptoms shows.

If there are no good results, then consult a doctor to avoid serious infection.