Family

Mum stands by her decision to pierce baby’s ears after others label it child abuse

The mother says she has no regrets.
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UK mum Rebekah Musson has hit out those who say piercing a baby’s ears is tantamount to child abuse.

The young mother wants to address those leveling criticism at parents after a video showing a baby having their ears pierced went viral on Facebook.

The baby in the video (not Musson’s) can be seen sitting on her mother’s knee before her ears are pierced by two people using piercing guns.

After the piercing, the baby screams and the mother can be seen desperately trying to soothe her child by putting a dummy in her mouth.

The baby is inconsolable as soon as she has her ears pierced. Photo: Facebook

The video, posted to Piercings Official Facebook page, prompted parents to label it child abuse and to call for the procedure to become illegal.

Speaking out in response, Musson, a mum-of-two told the Hull Daily Mail she’d had her daughter’s ears pierced when she was just four months old.

“Did she cry? Yes for a split second. Do I regret it? No.

The viral video had many parents up in arms, with some saying they wanted social services called in. Photo: Facebook

“My daughter loves her earrings and she sees herself as Batman with pretty ears. It’s much easier to get them done as a baby than when they’re older. Fact.

“How that could be described as child abuse I have no idea. It hurt her for but a second and it really was that. She didn’t cry like the baby in the video. That was a bit extreme.”

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Piercing professionals in New Zealand say the practice of piercing with a piercing gun can be traumatic as they use blunt force pressure to push earrings through the ear.

Speaking to Now To Love, Jess Lowe, a senior piercer at the Tattooed Heart in Auckland, said piercing with needles was a much better way to avoid pain and infection.

“Needles are much quicker because they are specifically designed to slide through the skin. The procedure itself causes minimal discomfort, and has generally been described as feeling like a quick pinch.”

She also added there could be problems with piercing babies’ ears as lobe is still growing. The piercing, she says, can move as the child gets older.

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