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A mum has seriously divided opinions online after revealing that she had her baby daughter's ears pierced hours after she was born.
TikTok creator and influencer @laraticaofficial uses her social media to share sweet photos and videos of her daughter Lara, who is now nine months old.
The controversy unfolded when the mum posted a video to TikTok back in January featuring her Lara as a newborn, swaddled in a hospital blanket and wearing daisy earrings, accompanied by the caption: "When your newborn was actually born adorable. Literally a few hours old."
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After catching the video, which now has over 2.9 million views on TikTok, viewers had some pretty strong opinions on baby Lara's new earrings.
Some people were horrified to see that the newborn had had her ears pierced just hours after being born.
"You pierced the ears at a few hours old? That’s a lot for one day," commented one viewer.
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"A few hours old and has ears pierced?" another wary TikToker asked.
"Why piercing? That's some new level for new born," added a third.
And a fourth penned: "When did she [say] she wants ear pierced?"
But others were quick to jump to the new mum's defence.
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"Am I the only one that got their ears pierced as a newborn?" asked one confused follower.
"Can someone tell me why people are making such a big deal about her ears pierced I mean I got mine pierced when I was born and I'm still alive, chill," argued another.
And a third pointed out: "It's not a big deal dude I got my ears pierced when I was that age and I'm thankful for it because I'm too scared to get another piercing now."
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Other mums even insisted that there's a benefit to piercing a newborn's ears early.
"It’s better to get it pierced right after birth [because] their skin is soft and they won’t feel a thing," explained one viewer.
A second agreed: "When the baby is born, their flesh is softer, so piercing their ears then won't hurt as much as it does when they get pierced later on."
And a third simply put it: "The earlier the better."
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The mum clarified that Lara 'didn't react' to having her ears pierced by neonatologists at the hospital.
She said: "When they are two-three days old, they don't feel pain like a year or two!"
However, it's important to note that, while there are no specific guidelines for piercing a baby's ears, many experts will recommend waiting until a child is at least three months old.
According to UK healthcare advisor My Family Clinic, there are some key points to consider if you're planning to pierce a baby's ears:
- Find a trained professional doctor to carry out the piercing in a safe, clean clinical environment.
- Be diligent about keeping the piercing site clean and contact your doctor immediately if there are any signs of infection of irritation.
- Pick studs without nickel or any metals, and ensure they're sterilised.
Ali Condon