Ear-Pierced at Three Years Old

Posted by May May 20, 2017

Ear-Pierced at Three Years Old

It was 0845hrs in the morning and I was barely awake. We were at Heguru, day-dreaming through flash-carding when Faye said, "Mommy, I want earrings. Like Cayley and Cayla."

Cayley and Cayla are her older cousins and they have a pair of earrings each. I was surprised by Faye's proposition. Oh wait, it was more of an official announcement. Her only obstacle was to get herself to the jewellers', pay for the service and have her ears pierced - on her own. Mommy needed to bring her and thus, the "Mommy, I want earrings." Otherwise, I bet she would have gone on her own without seeking my opinion about it. Oh Faye Faye, when you are reading this as a tween, I do hope you will check with me on certain milestone decisions you'd like to undertake. I won't necessarily say no but I should like you to consult me on my thoughts *smiles*

I replied, "Oh! Okay. We shall do that."

What does a soon-to-be three year old know about earrings? I have never talked to her about it before but she had this planted in her head from her own observations. Totally amazed by this big girl talk at such a tender age, I gave her dad a quick text in the middle of class just to share this revelation of hers.

I decided not to instil any kind of fear in her earrings dream. No way was I going to pep talk her about it being painful because I did not think it was necessary. Everyone's threshold of pain is different right? She may think it's nothing really. With my input about it possibly going to hurt will only build up negativity, anxiety and phobia. If she wants to get this done, I can only imagine giving her my encouragement.

We talked about the excitement of her new accessory by asking her what colour she was going to choose and if she was going to start tying her hair up to show off her new blings. Her answers never wavered.

Do you really want to get earrings Faye?

Yes.

What colour will you choose?

Purple.

Are you excited to have your ears pierced?

Yes! Can we go now?

I did not know where to go to have her ears pierced and so I googled and consulted the first link on the Google list - theAsianparent.

First on the list was B'dazzle and I believe 80% of my friends had theirs or their daughters' ears pierced at the shop. I vividly recall my not-so-desirable encounter with them too. I was a teenager and I decided to give my right ear a second earhole. I chose to get it done with B'dazzle at Wisma because it had a big sign at its entrance boasting it to be "PAINLESS". *rolls eyes* Painless? It was as painful as what a needle through flesh felt like!

A quick rub of alcohol and PIAK! The gun did its job in putting that earring through my earlobe like any jewellery shop would have done. So I really don't see why they promoted themselves as PAINLESS some 20 years ago. I wonder if they still have that sign up today but I knew I was not going back there for Faye's ear piercing experience.

A quick call to check on prices and I got a shock of my life!

Stege Gallery charges a whopping S$395 for their ear-piercing service!

B'dazzle said their price starts from S$89 depending on the earrings we choose.

Dr Oh from Kids Clinic at Bishan charges S$53 inclusive of GST and can be paid by the kids' CDA card!

Price aside, of course I feel safer to have my three year old in the hands of a Paediatrician instead of a salesgirl in some jewellery shop! Now the price in the jewellery shops are ridiculous anyways. Worst still, they do not bother what your child's medical condition is? They just want your business.

I called Dr Oh's clinic to ask if I needed to make an appointment and a series of questions [and facts] were put across to me rather directly:

Does your child suffer from any skin conditions like Eczema?

No.

Because if she does, we advise against ear-piercing to avoid infection.

Ok noted but she is good.

Please note that in any case when you child is not cooperative or decides not to pierce on that day, we will respect her decision.

Got it.

We will administer numbing cream on your daughter's earlobes and it takes one hour to take effect.

Sure! We can have breakfast while we wait for our turn.

There is no need to make an appointment. Please come in anytime on a weekday morning before 1100hours.

Thank you. We will come by on her birthday.

I wouldn't have known that a sensitive skin condition or eczema would cause serious infections if I hadn't been told by the clinic assistant. My niece went to have her ears pierced at B'dazzle to suffer from six months of infection just because she wasn't advised against it. She suffers from a serious case of eczema.

A review written by my friend Life's Tiny Miracles when she brought her daughter to have her ears pierced by Dr Oh back in 2013 affirmed my decision to bring Faye to Dr Oh. Reading on, I learnt that Dr Oh administers numbing cream to the child's ear to minimise the stress and tension of a child's ear-piercing experience. I liked what I read and penned in our appointment in my calendar for 17th of May 2017 - on her birthday.

I am not sure if the numbing cream works but if it does, what a beautiful painless experience it would be for my child.

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Faye woke up chirpy on her birthday and announced, "Let's go get the earrings mommy!"

Bishan isn't exactly near our house but I would go the distance for it.

We stepped into a packed clinic at 0910hrs and registered for a queue number. The clinic assistant applied the numbing cream for Faye and used scotch tape to cover it up in case her tiny hands touched it unknowingly.

Our one-hour breakfast consisted of Char Siew Bao, Milo-Peng and a single Hard-Boiled Egg. Happy Birthday Faye! It wasn't until 1050hrs before we saw Dr Oh though i.e. 100 minutes later because they gave priority to sick kids. I respect that decision. Anyhows, the longer the numbing cream stays on her, the better!

Faye was pacing the floor impatiently and complained repeatedly, "I want to go in already." She was an eager beaver with no fear whatsoever.

When her turn came, she turned meek. She was all shy and reserved in front of Dr Oh [a lady doctor by the way], refusing to answer to her questions. I had to present her with the choice of earrings instead [yes, the service includes earrings as well] and there, she chose her favourite colour Purple.

Dr Oh turned on a Baby Shark video on the computer for her to watch. Although it was not going to hurt [Dr Oh was very certain], she shared that the child might get frightened of the sound and refuse to cooperate for the second ear. Faye is of an age that understands what's being spoken in front of her. I wished Dr Oh hadn't said what she did, "She may get scared of the sound." As had been doing much groundwork to take the word "Scared" out of our earrings conversation because it is a negative word. Alas. What's said is said at the clinic. I can only hope she cooperates.

Faye sat quietly and confidently on me as Dr Oh pierced her first earring into her left ear.

No cries, no jostles, no surprise even after five seconds of piercing.

She just sat there, watched her Baby Shark video and probably felt no pain at all.

Then!

When Dr Oh wanted to pierce her right earlobe, she retaliated.

Dr Oh said, "Ah see... she was frightened by the sound. But let's try to do this and make it work."

Oh gosh. Now we have to pierce the second hole through her cries and struggles.

Well, we did it in the end and my daughter didn't go home with just one side of her ears pierced. She went out of the clinic absolutely proud of her new accessory.

We were advised to return one week later for a free review [there isn't a need to queue too]. In the meantime, there was no need to clean the area with alcohol or any sort of cream. All we needed to take note of was, "No swimming within the week and to keep the earrings on for three full months."

Right after our visit, we went straight to her pre-school to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Everyone came to ask about her earrings and I think her ego swelled ten folds!