Caring for baby piercings: tips and ways to prevent infection

Congratulations on the birth of your child! When your little one comes into the world, of course, a lot of preparations have been made, including the matter of getting your child's tiny ear pierced. The problem that often arises after getting your child's ear pierced is the wound around the earlobe. Why do baby's ears get injured and how to care for baby piercings so that they don't spread and even infection? Here's the explanation.

The cause of the baby's ear is injured when pierced

Usually, the baby's ear often gets injured after being pierced. Apart from piercings, this condition is usually caused by several things such as:

• Germs
• Earrings too tight
• Allergy to metal in earrings
• There is a part of the earring that goes into the earlobe

These various conditions can cause problems after your little one is pierced.

How to care for baby piercings

Baby piercings should not be left on for too long as this can cause infection. Here are various ways you can treat baby piercings:

Wash your hands before cleaning and treating baby piercings

How do you know if your child's ear is injured because of a piercing? Riley Children's Health says the signs are redness and swelling 24 hours after the child's ear is pierced.

When you want to clean or treat a baby piercing wound, About Kids Health recommends that you wash your hands before touching the injured area.

This is to reduce the risk of bacteria sticking to the hands and transferring to the injured child's ear. The reason is, the part of the skin that has open wounds is more susceptible to bacteria.

Avoid using alcohol

After washing your hands thoroughly, the next step to treating baby piercings is to clean using warm water and soap twice a day while bathing.

While being cleaned, avoid using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide and rubbing baby's skin. This can make the baby's delicate skin irritated and dry.

Take off the earrings

When your baby's ear is injured or becomes infected, remove the earring while the ear is being cleaned to make the child's wound more visible. While still irritated, it's best to avoid wearing earrings on your child until the wound has healed.

If your child seems to have a risk of allergies or sensitivity to the metals and other materials in the earrings, stop wearing them for a long time.

Usually, the wound will disappear within 2 weeks provided that how to care for it is clean and hygienic.

If home care doesn't improve your piercing, it's best to consult a doctor immediately.

How to prevent baby piercings

To prevent injury to the piercing, here are some things you can do:

Avoid piercing the ears of newborns

Kimberly Schneider, Pediatrician at Indiana University Health explains in Riley Children's Health that she advises parents to wait until the baby is 3 months old to get pierced.

This is not without reason. Newborns under 3 months of age are at risk of developing sores and infections when their ears are pierced.

"If a baby under 3 months has wounds and infections until they have a fever after being pierced, they should be hospitalized according to their condition," explained Schneider.

Make sure the equipment used is sterile

When you want to get your baby's ears pierced, make sure the equipment the midwife or doctor uses is sterile. Therefore, do this procedure in a trusted place.

This is done so that in the future, you are not confused about treating baby piercings, which are sometimes a problem for parents.

Choosing the right earring material

Seeing the condition of sensitive baby skin, you need to be careful in choosing the right earring material.

Some of the most hypoallergenic or non-allergenic earring materials are 24 carat silver or gold. This type of material rarely causes allergic reactions in babies.

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