Many parents want to let their kids wear earrings starting at a young age as they want to follow the latest trends. As parents, you may be concerned with the reaction of your kids during the ear piercing process. You want to ensure that your kid go through the process safely without getting any infection from it. The following are 5 things to know before taking your kid to the parlor to get her ears pierced.
Minimum Age For Ear Piercing
Kids ear piercing can be done on infants as young as 2 months old but many experts recommend that parents wait until after 1 year old. By that age, the baby will be safe to receive a set of DTaP vaccines. Earrings can pass infection especially if it is worn by another person that has infection or it is made from cheap metal that has not clean. Just to be sure, parents should follow this rule to prevent infection from happening on their kids after the ear piercing process.
Find A Parlor That Is Sterile And Hygienic
The place where you bring your child for the ear piercing must be hygienic. For this reason, you should only choose a reputable ear piercing parlor. The parlor should have a sterile environment for piercing children’s ears. The instruments used in the ear piercing process should be clean. For some people, they will feel that it is safer to have the ear piercing done at a parlor rather than in a shopping mall. The price will be slightly more expensive when you get it done in a parlor but it can put your worry at ease on the child.
Provide Distractions For The Child
If your child is young, you can provide some distractions, for example, a small toy. If it is an infant, you can bring a pacifier or a blanket along. If the kid is already attending school, you can invite their friends. They can also get their ears pierced at the same time in the parlor. It will help to boost the kid’s confidence with the friends around to give support.
Explain That Ear Piercing Hurts To Your Child
Many parents make the mistake of telling their kids that ear piercing does not hurt at all. Ear piercing does hurt but the wound will be healed and the pain will completely diminish after 2 weeks or so. If your kid wants ear piercing done, he will be able to understand and have the confidence to go forth with it.
Take Aftercare Steps
Parents must take the necessary aftercare steps to reduce the risk of infection. Every day, remember to use a cloth to wipe the earrings front and back. You can use a small amount of antibiotic ointment to disinfect it. To reduce allergy, you should take the precaution to only let your kid wear nickel free or gold plated earrings. In the meantime, you should watch out for allergy reactions such as tenderness and redness on the ear lobe on your kid. Usually, there will also be a discoloration on the earrings when allergy occur. If the parent notice an allergy symptom, the best is to remove the earrings first and let the ear get healed completely before putting on another clean earring.