Best Place to Take 5-Yr Old for First Ear Piercing?

On the advice of a friend who is an esthetician, I went to Merle Norman on Meridian in San Jose to have my ears re-pierced. They use only 18K or 24K gold. The equipment is immaculate. They gave my 11 yo son, who was with me, a toy for patiently waiting while I was having the work done. The woman who runs the shop was very calm and patient. I think it would be a good match for a young child.

I took my youngest to our regular beauty parlor for her first piercings when she was 12--no check of IDs or anything, but they knew our family. I recently took her to Pierce Ink for second piercings in her lobes and one in the helix. No way was I going to take her to Claire's, and the beauty parlor was too expensive. They were very professional. You'll need a photo ID and birth certificate for your daughter. They may not do 5 year olds (my daughter is 14), so call ahead and check. My daughter had a wonderful experience with Sharrin, who has a bachelor's degree in art and a master's degree in public health.

Hello there not sure where you live in the bay area but I took my 3 month old daughter to Angel at Paisley haus (paisleyhaus.com) in San Jose. Her shop is a little "new age" but she was great. Good Luck.

No reputable body piercing place will pierce anyone under 16, period. There are regulations against it. Additionally, most will not touch a pregnant woman due to possible licensing implications. I get all my work done at Staircase, I've never been to the other places and while I'm certain they're clean and use an autoclave, etc. - I would be very concerned about them piercing a 5yo.

Personally, I am heavily pierced and inked and I wouldn't take my child to a piercing shop to have a needle put in and go through that experience. I would wait until my kiddo is 16 and let him/her decide on the jewelry when they're old enough to take care of it. They won't put studs in your daughter's ears, she'll end up wearing some CBR. I'd hold off, your mind is in absolutely the right place but she's too young.

I have a 10yo stepson and a 3yo son, my 3yo wants tattoos like mommy - I told him I'll take him when he's old enough, but for now we can do fake tattoos :) He wears my larger rings over his ears and we get creative with my plugs (9/16" lobes).

My girls and most of our friends kids have had their ears pierced at Claire's, a store at many malls. They are very careful and sanitary, they have a varied of studs to choose from including 14K gold, surgical steel, etc. If you want and if they have enough personnel, they will do both ears at the same time.

Hi V.,

I took my daughter to her doctor. Doctors routinely do ear piercing on young babies. My daughter has had her ears pierced since she was 3 months of age. Some moms might think there is a lot of maintenance that comes with the piercing, but there isn't. All you need to do every day is move the earring around a little for a few weeks. After that nothing else needs to be done. It is customary in my culture (I'm hispanic) to do ear piercing on baby girls. Make sure to only use 14K posts. As a little 5-year old child, do not let her wear anything else but post earrings. It is very dangerous for a young child to wear dangling earrings, not to mention that it doesn't look age appropriate. I think the safest place for ear piercing would be the doctor' office. Good luck!

I'm sorry, V., but you can't be serious!!! A 5-year old with pierced ears?? She is way too young to care for pierced ears herself, not to mention make an informed decision about whether this is an appropriate thing to do! Next thing, she'll want a 3rd hole, and then what next..eyebrow? lip? I don't think it would hurt to wait until she is 13 years old. I took my eldest daughter to a Claire's, and the woman there was very careful and took her time. I hardly think a piercing shop is an appropriate place to take a young girl.

From my experience in the past you must be 16 years old to get any piercings done at tattoo or piercing parlors with parental consent. (at least this was the law about 8 years ago.) I think the best place to take her would be to a dr's office. If you call around there are some dr's that preform the procedure.

When I took my daughter to have her ears pierced I took her to a pediatric clinic. Alot of clinics pierce childrens ear for around $35.00. Which may seem expensive but atleast you know it's sanitary. I went to Bay Area Pediatric in San Mateo

I got my belly button ring done at Pierced Out and had a good experience. They even found a solution for me when I was pregnant. I think it depends on who you get. The girls there were very professional when I've gone.

Anyway, I second the notion of going to a body piercing place. I have multiple earrings in my ears (13), and the ones that I did at a body piercing place healed much more quickly and without infection, as opposed to the ones that were done at the malls. The ones I got done at the malls were spaced out horribly on top of it all.

When my daughter was 6 months old, I actually took her to Paisley Haus in San Jose. They were great with her. At the time, not too many places would do infants, but they were cool.

Hope this helps.

C.

Unless you are prepared to take care of your daughter's ears for many years (at least 5), I would discourage you from piercing her ears at the age of 5, particularly because she has a sensitivity to metals. You can use gold posts and still have problems with infections that are caused by irritations of the tissue where the piercing is done. My daughter had her ears pierced at 5. She and I did fine for a couple years, but when she started taking care of her own ears, she did not do a good enough job with sterilizing the site and removing the earrings regularly. She has a sensitivity to metals, so we only used gold posts. Her earlobes swelled and we had to have the backs of the earrings surgically removed (while on vacation...). Please think about this carefully before going through with the ear piercing at this age. Best wishes.

I agree w/ Rose. Her suggestions for earrings are terrific. I also only used "screw backs."
My daughters have allergies to nickel which composes Stainless Steel. I chose to see my Pedi when they were babies. He used 18 kt gold, & charged $20. Never had any problems.
My daughters now 19 & 24 pierced their ears again, & went to a piercing business. Regardless of the design, only Stainless Steel posts or wires were available. Both had reactions to the piercing.
Good Luck!

Ask your pediatrician if he/she will do it. My infant granddaugther's were done by hers during a checkup along with her immunizations.

Hi V.,

The doctor can pierce your daughter's ears or their office will recommend a place.

The big thing is after, keeping the ears clean and swabed daily with alcohol.

I'm afraid I have to agree with Stephanie on this. While I don't think it's the end of the world to have a baby or child's ears pierced (but please – no body piercing shop!), I don't see what the rush is. I, too, think the standard should be if they're old enough to care for the pierced ears themselves. And just as a general comment to all the mothers out there... just because I child "wants" something, doesn't mean they should be allowed to have (or do) it. Just one mom's opinion. Thanks for listening.

I also do not believe that a tattoo parlor/body piercing place will pierce a 5 yo. Both my girls got there 1st holes done at the drs office when they were about 6 mos old but after that every other piercing they got was done at Claires. We only use "nickel free" earrings and have never had any problems/allergies or infections. My daughters are now 19 & 24 and both have more then 3 holes in each ear. I myself have 15 piercings 13 of them done at Claires.

I hope I have been helpful. Don't let anyone talk you out of getting your daughters ears pierced, I think she will look beautiful and I think all little girls should have their ears pierced. My granddaughter is 6 weeks old and I can't wait until her mommy gets her ears pierced (hopefully at 6mos)