Removing earrings from newly pierced ears?

I am beating myself up something fierce because I just let DD get her ears pierced yesterday as part of her 9th birthday gift. I thought she would be able to put band aids or surgical tape over them for soccer games like we did when I was a kid, and even in high school, but apparently not. I should have checked with her coach, but honestly didn't realize that at her age, it would be that strict. Her coach is away with his family, but a friend's mom checked with her daughter's coach, and she is almost definitely going to be told she has to take them out or not play.

Is it even possible to take earrings out when the ears have only been pierced for a week? They're going to close up almost immediately, right? Everything I've seen online suggests that they'll start to close up, even if they're just out for an hour. My problem is that DD is a huge sports lover, and plays a sport, sometimes two, all year. I had her do it now because I thought that with three soccer games remaining, and the field hockey season over, they could have several weeks of healing before basketball begins. I really did not want fresh piercings for the start of basketball season...I have seen the way she and her friends manhandle each other and the ball. So, I clearly screwed this up, but is there any recourse short of letting them close or her having to sit out the game? I am very uncomfortable with her not playing over something like earrings, but I fear that's what she's going to want to do if her only other option is taking them out.

I'm not sure how fast they will close up (I'd guess pretty quick), but we have to take earrings out for all games, no exceptions. I had DD2 get her ears pierced as soon as lax season was over (even though it was 2mos before our "rule" of being 10 for pierced ears), knowing we'd have enough time before soccer started to let them heal.

Sorry!

Would they be willing to allow her to wear labretts? They are the type that they use for body piercing. The front screws on and the back is totally flat. There's no point post in the back or an earring back that can fall off. They are really really tiny. That's what DD1 had her ears pierced with and summer soccer allowed them. I know that at the 6 week mark of healing, even having them out for a few hours made it tough to get them back in. We are now at 5 months out and she's gone a whole night with them out and that's been fine. I'd suspect that at just 1 week after you'd potential be causing trauma to the tissue taking them in and out for practice/games.

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Originally Posted by Twoboos

I had DD2 get her ears pierced as soon as lax season was over (even though it was 2mos before our "rule" of being 10 for pierced ears), knowing we'd have enough time before soccer started to let them heal.

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This is the problem-- this year, she played field hockey (which just ended) and soccer in the fall. By the time soccer is over, basketball will have started. She will play basketball all winter, then by the time that's over, she'll be starting spring soccer and (maybe) softball. She said that she might not want to play softball this year, and that's fine with me. But when whatever spring sport she plays is over, she starts summer soccer mini-games 1x per week, and a summer basketball league 2x per week. This is all by her own choice. So I was actually trying to find the time where she had the fewest sports, and least contact sports, going on. I let her do it now because I wanted to be able to take them out if we absolutely had to by the time basketball starts in about 3 weeks. First world problem, I know. I just can't figure out when she'd otherwise be able to get them done.

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Originally Posted by boolady

This is the problem-- this year, she played field hockey (which just ended) and soccer in the fall. By the time soccer is over, basketball will have started. She will play basketball all winter, then by the time that's over, she'll be starting spring soccer and (maybe) softball. She said that she might not want to play softball this year, and that's fine with me. But when whatever spring sport she plays is over, she starts summer soccer mini-games 1x per week, and a summer basketball league 2x per week. This is all by her own choice. So I was actually trying to find the time where she had the fewest sports, and least contact sports, going on. I let her do it now because I wanted to be able to take them out if we absolutely had to by the time basketball starts in about 3 weeks. First world problem, I know. I just can't figure out when she'd otherwise be able to get them done.

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I totally get it. It's a first world problem but for a 9/10 year old, it's huge, LOL. We were lucky to not have an official "sport" in the summer, so this worked once I decided she could get them done early.

Good luck!

I knew someone in high school who would put thread or fishing line (something like that) through her cartilage piercing for soccer.


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Originally Posted by BananaMama

I knew someone in high school who would put thread or fishing line (something like that) through her cartilage piercing for soccer.


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I did this with dental floss, but I don't know that I'd recommend trying this on freshly pierced ears. I did it in HS when I had my 2nd holes done. Threaded a needle with plain basic dental floss and then pushed the threaded end of the needle through the piercing (so not the pointy end). No idea if that would be allowed though.

I'd ask about the libretts and explain the problem. They really will be safe if she plays with them in, so they may allow it. My daughter is only three, but this thread is upsetting me. A young girl shouldn't have to choose between sports and getting her ears pierced. Both are important to her and her sense of self. If we want to encourage girls to play hard, we should find ways to let them do that and also be fashionable. Otherwise we're just reinforcing a divide in our definition of femininity.

Had a friend who dealt with this same thing. She just took them out right before the soccer game and put them back in after cleaning the ears. The only problem was she was a doctor and when she was on call had to take them out the night before and put them back in the next day because her husband couldn't handle it. The ears never completely closed up, but on the 24 hour periods she had to push a little, ouch!