Even though Dana Clay of Honey Brook, Pa., has six piercings in one ear and four in another, she chose not to pierce her now 4-year-old daughter Mary's ears when she was an infant. Clay understands how some parents would be enamored with the idea. After all, most newborn babies are bald, and piercing a baby girl's ears may help the child appear more feminine.

"The big thing is I would not do something to her body before she was old enough to make that decision for herself," Clay says. "She says that she wants to get it done when she is 11. I think by that time she would be old enough."

A growing number of health experts agree that parents should wait to have their baby's ears pierced for health reasons. But some parents do not want to wait.

Dr. Ken Gottesman, the attending pediatrician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, recommends parents wait until their baby has his or her second set of immunization shots because of the risk of tetanus.

Dr. Gottesman, the father of two boys, says he has other concerns as well, even if the person administering the ear piercing uses a sterile kit. "My concern also is that you are working with a very small earlobe, and the target is very small," he says. "I always tell people to wait longer rather than shorter. I tell them to wait until their girls are a few years old and their ear lobes are a nice size and it's an easy target to hit. If it's a birthday present, it means something to them. We have people who pierce their little girl's ears at 2 weeks of age." 

Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical question or condition. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of other users. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any content generated by our users.