Body piercer sparks debate after being asked to pierce two-week-old baby’s ears

A body piercer has sparked a debate after refusing a parent’s request to pierce their baby’s ears at just two weeks old.

Adhum Price, a cosmetic body piercer in Birmingham, went viral on TikTok earlier this month when he shared an interaction he had with a potential customer who asked to pierce their baby’s ears. Since it was posted on 7 March, the TikTok video has been viewed more than 4,000 times.

“An actual conversation I’ve had with a customer just this week,” he wrote over the clip, as he reenacted his exchange with the parent to the camera.

“Yes, hello. Good afternoon. Do you do piercings?” the customer asked.

“Good afternoon. Yes, we are a piercing studio,” Price replied.

The father then asked if he could get his baby’s ears pierced, to which Price inquired about their child’s age. When the customer said that their baby is two weeks old, Price said in his TikTok video that he had to focus “heavily on not letting my inside voice pop off, exuding expletives I never realised I knew”.

Instead, he simply told the man: “No, sorry, we wouldn’t pierce your baby’s ears at two weeks old.”

When he wondered if the piercing shop had a minimum age requirement for ear piercings, Price had to “stay calm and collected” and informed the customer that they won’t pierce a baby’s ears without informed consent.

“We only really go from eight years upwards and even then it’s a case of informed consent,” he said. “You kind of have to have a conversation with your kid and find out whether it’s something they want to go through with – whether they’re comfortable with them having them pierced and whether, you know, they’re alright with us using needles for this procedure.”

The dad assured Price that his baby was “fine” with needles, but the body piercer maintained his stance while still “fighting the demons inside me”.

Adhum Price’s video sparked a discussion in the comments section about parents piercing their child’s ears at such a young age.

“Drives me crazy that some parents feel they have ownership of their child’s body. Thanks for being a voice of reason!” read one comment.

“I still can’t believe it’s a thing!” said someone else.

“Thank you soooooo much for not agreeing to this,” another user wrote.

However, several users pointed out that it is common in certain cultures and traditions to pierce an infant’s ears.

“For me it’s a cultural thing. And when you’re older you can decide to get more piercings or let the hole close,” one TikToker said, while another wrote: “I see both sides. I know families who do it in their culture (i’m a nanny) but I can totally understand where you’re coming from.”

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, ear piercing may be done at any age as long as it is performed carefully. Although, they do recommend postponing the piercing until a child is “mature enough” to care for the pierced site themselves.

In many cultures, piercing an infant girl’s ears is seen as tradition or a right of passage. In some places such as Latin America, India, parts of Africa and the Middle East, people often pierce their baby’s ears at an early age. The karna vedha sanskar is a Hindu tradition practiced in India, in which baby’s ears are pierced in their first or third year, per BabyCenter.