Thursday, April 24, 2008

Ear Piercing On Babies

Remember the bundle of joy I used to blog about before? Should you need to recap, read them here and here.


Nur Aqilah Balkis came back from Labuan to stay with us some 4 months ago. The mother who resides in Labuan with husband Mohd Lokman was enrolled to do Kursus Perguruan Lepasan Ijazah (KPLI) in Keningau Sabah. The course was a one year course and to our joy they have decided to let Balkis stay with us for the duration of the course. Balkis will be taken home to Labuan the minute the mother completes the course.
So now if you ask me what I am doing while in retirement, my answer is playing nanny to my grand daughter Balkis.
Meanwhile the mother or the father will comeback to Pasir Mas whenever opportunities arise like the school holidays for the mother or attending a course somewhere in Peninsular Malaysia for the mechanical engineer father. Anyway the mother is a qualified mechanical engineer too but prefers to work as a teacher. She chose to teach mathematics since it is her favourite subject. Otherwise their only chance to see Balkis is the webcam. Thanks to the internet savvy grandfather, their longing for Balkis is greatly subdued.


Actually it was Yani my daughter inlaw who started it all. She had her daughters Ayen and Syakirah's ears pierced earlier. The younger Syakirah is just a few days older than 8 months old Balkis. Since the ear piercing heals faster on younger babies, she decided to do it earlier. Yani's earlier visit to a chinese goldsmith in Pasir Mas was a failure as the workers there didn't have the heart to do it on babies. It was by chance that Yani stopped at another Malay goldsmith shop in Pasir Mas and the lady owner had experiences doing it in babies.


The operation was done in a jiffy and Syakirah only cried abit. A few days later Yani called from her home at Enstek Labu telling us that Syakirah's ears had healed in a matter of days without even the application of any medication.


So off we went to the goldsmith shop in Pasir Mas to have Balkis' ears pierced. We were hoping for the lady goldsmith to apply some form of local anasthesia like the spray kind used by dentist to prevent pain before the injection of nitrous oxide. Or at least she will apply some form of sterilizing liquid at the spot to be pierced. Nothing of the sort. After marking the spot to be pierced, the lady shop owner just did the peircing ear by ear with Balkis crying out half heartedly. The piercing was done and in the pierced spot on the ear lobes. a pair of pretty ear pieces were left in place all at a cost of RM10.00. A dab of minyak gamat ensured the quick healing of the pierced lobes.

Just a small cry after each piercing.

Not even a drop of blood was shed.

Now there is no reason for people to ask whether balkis is a boy or a girl anymore..
She is a girl

46 comments:

Queen Of The House said...

Ooooh that is so cute!!! And here I am, a full-grown adult still afraid to get my ears pierced (again). Not that I have not done it - done twice already, once in my teens after finishing school and again shortly before getting married in order to put on those heavy dangling earrings. Both times, the holes disappeared after prolonged non-wearing of earrings. Rimas. I will only wear baby studs and can only use gold. Non-gold earrings give me an allergic reaction. Better make sure your granddaughter only wears gold to prevent any reactions.

Pak Zawi said...

queen,
I cant say if its painless or not but hearing the muted cry from the baby I feel its just like a pin prick. Afterall there are not much nerves at the lobes. Give it another try, if little Balkis can do it why can't an adult you? Keep a small earing in the hole all the time to keep the holes intact.
I know of a rich lady who is allergic to gold. Though she owns lots of gold ornaments, they are mostly locked up in her safe.
We will try to let Balkis wear some gold earing to see if she is allergic to gold too. The small bracelet on her ankle seems to be ok with her. If she were to be allergic to gold, it will be a bonus to her future husband since he wont have to spend too mcuh on gold since the price of gold is sky rocketing like the price of black gold.
Thanks for the visit queen.

Unknown said...

Balqis, as cute as ever...
I never had any chance to watch piercing before (I guess that happens when you have only a and it is 13 years apart).
But nowadays we have all kind of piercings; ear, eyebrow, tongue, nose, belly button, bla3x yadda3x. Not only girls do that. Trend, they say.
I guess hypersensitivity towards gold is rare compared to steel and copper. Has a friend here who can't touch stainless steel. She'll get rash and all that.

Queen Of The House said...

Rich lady allergic to gold?? Or just an excuse for not wearing the (allegedly) locked up gold??? Selalunya orang allergic to non-gold jewellery :D

Hugs to little Balkis.

Unknown said...

Salam pak...
Ain't sho look adorable? Alahai, sejuknya hati dan mata saya dapat tatap baby comel mcm Balqis tu...

Now dah ada cara moden for piercing...in my home town, piercing masih style mak-mak bidan...letak minyak masak dgn kunyit and takde infection...ada juga yang tak takut so waited until besar sikit like setahun dua then hantar kedai emas untuk tindik telinga...

AuntieYan said...

Salam Pak Zawi :-)

I did my ears pierced when Iwas 8 yrs old...(long time ago)During that time, ears piercing was done the traditonal way. Mine was done by a Pakcik.. (actually he was a tok mudim too!)Keh!...keh! he used the safety pin to prick my ear lobes...without any ubat pelali!
After one ear was pierced..I cried so loud and refused to do the other ears...Guess what!...the other ears was done one week later after much persuasion from my mum!...:-) kah!..kah!

Anonymous said...

Tu yang best dapat anak perempuan tu. Anak lelaki mana boleh nak tindik, atau beli baju cantik-cantik.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
I know what you mean by the places you mentioned as bla3x and yadda3x. Seen em all but dont like any of them.
Unfortunate of your friend to be allergic to stainless steel as there are so many things that are made of it and must be touched everyday. She must keep away from spoons, railings and braces. What if she has to have metal implants incase of broken bones?

Pak Zawi said...

queen,
It is not an excuse. My brother inlaws wife worked for her she had to keep the gold items in the safe for the lady.
She loves to wear them but cant wear them. She just felt itchy whenever she wears them. Well sometimes you can have the cake but you cannot eat it.

Anonymous said...

Waht a cutie. She is adorable.

Pak Zawi said...

raden galoh,
She is definitely adorable. The parents missed her very much. She is giving me alot of joy the last four months and will continue to be with me for at least another two months if not for another 8 months.
Bertindik cara moden tak sakit. It comes with a pretty pair of anting-anting. Though it is not gold, it is oretty enough.
In the olden days they use pin to pierce and use the stem of kemucut to retain the hole.
Modern tools is just lie a stapler and those anting antings are the staples.

Pak Zawi said...

auntieyan,
Wassalam.
That was how I remembered how my elder sisters ears were pierced, by a tok mudim. Batang kemucut was used to plug the holes. They were done at an old age too. Later they were replaced with gold earings.
Thank you for visiting.

Pak Zawi said...

Yeappie,
Balkis is definitely very cute. At 8 months she weigh in at 11 kg, sligtly on the heavy side for a baby her age.
She is very active now but behaves well. She will cry only when she is hungry or sleepy but her cries are not very loud or full bodied. It is a joy to have her in my life.

Pak Zawi said...

gurindam jiwa,
Betul tu. Untuk anak perempuan macam macam fesyen baju ada. Murah pula tu. Tak perlu beli mahal mahal punya sebab diaorang kejap saja membesar. Sekrang dua pasang kasut yang parents dia beli dah tak boleh pakai. Kemana mana pun berkaki ayam je dia sekarang. Apa kisah bab kaki dia tak jejak bumi pun hehehehe.

Fauziah Ismail said...

Salam Pak Zawi
Sometimes I wonder about the things we women have to go through. Is this because our threshold to pain is higher than men? Hmmm ...
I had my ears pierced when I was in Form 3. My late father was okay with her daughter not having pierced ears (boleh pakai clip-ons, he had said) but my mother was adamant that I go through it (not that I get to use her diamond earrings!).
The task was left to my auntie who took me to the goldsmith. The Chinese man marked my earlobes, sprayed something cooling on it and the gold needle went into it.
I must tell you it was painful. He had to wait a while for the pain to subside on the ear before he did the other.
Two years later, I pierced my ears again. This time, the goldsmith used the stud gun. It was fast and painless. I now have two holes on each of my earlobes.
If the cute Balkis is allergic to gold-plated jewellery or yellow gold, there's always white gold or the much more expensive platinum.
My hugs and kisses for Balkis.

Pak Zawi said...

Fauziah,
When Azura was growing up and my wife wanted her ears pierced. I was against the idea as her younger brother Azrin was still young quite rough in his frequent roughing out with her. My wife was adamant and had Azura's ears pierced and later gave her a set of ear rings.
True to what I feared, in one of their friendly quarrels Azrin pulled on one of her earing and fortunately the earing gave way. Otherwise her earlobe would have been ripped off.
It is better done at infancy stage using the stud gun as they are fast and painless. Thanks for telling me that its a stud gun hehehehe.
Non of my family members are allergic to gold so we wont have to worry much about having to buy palitinum earings for anyone of them hehehehe.

Anonymous said...

nmpkny, azini dh terlepas peluang nk tgk balqis bertindik.. :) mesti makan hati dpt tgk gamba je.. (I’m one of azini’s friends, who enjoy reading your blog. )

jaflam said...

Salam Zawi,

Emmmmmmmm Comelnya Balkis, more comel with the earring.

Must be a pleasure for you and wife to look after her ... intan payung cucu Atok !!!!

Pak Zawi said...

escape,
Azini beritahu saya yang kawan dia beritahu dia mengenai pos ini. Mesti escape yang beritahu dia hehehehe. Tak mengapalah dia tak tengok sebab Balkis dalam jagaan kami dan kami akan beri Balkis yang terbaik. nanti dia tengok la anak dia yang akan datang bertindik. Untuk Balkis dia akan enjoy memasang sybang baru banti.
Thank you for visiting my site and enjoying reading my blogs.

Pak Zawi said...

D.Jaff,
We are enjoying Balkis' company while it lasts. Though she is quite heavy and hyperactive, she is quite easy to look after as she feeds on her milk and solid food well. She loves to feed on meshed fruits like papaya, mangoes and watermelons. Today I fed her meshed boiled bananas just to let her feel how atok was fed with similar food when small. When she grew up later she will be remindeed of that hahaha.
Thanks for the comment D.Jaff.

tokasid said...

Salam Pak Zawi:

Aduh....comey lottey nya Balqis. Rasa nak cubit2 pipi.
maybe one day if I become a grandpa jangan lebam2 sudah pipi cucu.

Ear piercing is sort of a must for girls and like Fauziah said mothers will want their daughter's ears pierced.

I have never pierced any girl's ears before(no request) but had circumcised a 1 month old boy.

maybe I should start doing the bertindik job now.

Pak Zawi said...

Doc TA,
Wassalam.
Pipi Balkis memang jadi tarikan bukan sahaja budak-budak bahkan orang tua pun suka memegangnya.
Buatlah bertindik sebagai servis kommuniti Doc.
I don't think you need any training to do it. With a stud gun, anybody could do and a doctor will be more sought after as doctors practise more hygenic procedures including local anaesthetic application so that all parents will know for sure that their babies dont suffer any unnecessary pain.
The goldsmiths would do it at RM10 because they want to sell the gold earings later which will bring in a better profit.

Pi Bani said...

Believe it or not, I never had my ears pierced! My mother never forced us either. And being someone who's not an ardent fan of jewelleries, I guess I didn't really miss anything.

Am I weird or what??!

Pak Zawi said...

Pi,
You are normal. If Allah wants us to hang something from the earlobes, He would have made the holes there. Why didn't He?

Anonymous said...

Pak Zawi if i may call you that,
Stumbled upon your blog by chance and have been enjoying your musings. I believe its pretty rare nowadays for grandparents to take care of their grandchildren 24/7 what more young babies. you and the missus are obviously enjoying the 'second round' of (grand)parenting albeit differently from the first time around huh? Perhaps you can share the difference between caring for your own children and your grandchild.By the way I am ardent collector of earrings, since none of my girls are into it, maybe I can put some aside for little Balqis huh...he...he.

Pak Zawi said...

mi2omar,
At my age of 58 it is only appropriate that people address me as Pak Zawi.
Its Allah's will that you were directed to my site as like many others before you. We are meant to know each other as time goes by and become close friends however different we are in age. So let us build up the friendship.
When we have grandchildren it only means that our own children are all grown up. That also means they have their own family to take care of. They maybe living far from us. In our case 3 of my children are working and living around KL. The other one is in Labuan. So when they let us take care of Balkis, it was like Godsend. Though tiring at times, we definitely enjoy it. With only 2 months to go before we may have to let their parents have her back, we are already thinking of how we are going to cope with our life without her. Already we and playing in our minds that we will be replaying the videos that I took of her whenever she learns something new over and over to keep ourselves from missing her. Can you imagine that?
You have some earings to give to Balkis? I will be too happy to go and collect from you. Just tell me where and I will be there with Balkis for you to cuddle. She is definitely adorable. Not that we cant afford her earings but a gift from a new friend is all the more valuable.

Unknown said...

Personally I wouldn't do it on my baby. Even if it's painful, they can't even tell us except by crying. Moreover if any complication arrises,they are too fragile to go throuh any treatment. My daughter did it when she was about 6 with her concern.
Anyway Tuan Zawi, you are really a caring grandpa from the way I see you. Life must be busy and great for retired man like you.

Pak Zawi said...

Lim,
I don't like it either but girls will ultimately want their ears pierced when they grow up especially after seeing their friends do it. All the more so when they see their peers wearing nice earings.
The earlobes don't have many nerves there and few blood vessels so complications are rare unless there is an infection.
Busy is not really the way my life is now but tied down is more like it. Anyway I can always send her to my son inlaw's parents which are just near to Bunut Susu. Anyway life is fun loking after grandchildren.

Nightwing said...

Helo Pak Zawi,

So cute!!!

Ya...it is better to leave to people who had done ear piercing on babies.

It was good the first goldsmith decline if they do not have the experience.

Ya...technology now is really something....can use web cam...:)

Pak Zawi said...

nightwing,
Putting studs on earlobes are no big deal as compared to putting it elsewhere on the body like the tounge or the private parts.
Thanks to webcams its possible to see loved ones from far. My daughter benefited from technology immensely.
Ever thought of putting some studs on yourself?

cakapaje said...

Salam Pak Zawi,

Can't comment much there as I have to experience any (baby) of my own. But, she is adorable, isn't she?

Pak Zawi said...

Shah,
All babies are adorable. Better hurry up, the earlier you have your own babies to cuddle the better and you will have a great time with them. I will hug Balkis for you OK? She is definitely adorable.

ZABS said...

Salam Zawi,
Saya ada dua anak perempuan (24 dan 12) Yang tua tu dibuat semasa di sekolah rendah. Sekarang ada tiga dah. Tapi yang kecil tu, walau sudah 12 tahun masih belum minta untuk dibuatkan.

pB said...

salam Pok Awie


anok bongsu pB belum lagi tindik tli'ngo.

ado jugok pujuk pujuk , tapi tok makae samae lagi lar.

Hok tigo lagi tu , alhamdulillah , tindik blako doh ....


Orghe puae tindik tak dok masaloh.
Hok pelik tu , bilo orghe jatae pun dok tindik jugok.

Tindik pulok tepak hok pelik pelik supo hidung , pusat , lidoh ...

Pak Zawi said...

zabs,
Kalau dah besar ikut saja kemahuan mereka. Mungkin dia tak suka dan kita perlu hormati kehendaknya.
Dalam keadaan sekarang saya rasa elok dibuat masa mereka kecil sebab mereka lebih cepat sembuh. Akhirnya mereka akan minta juga sebab tekanan dari rakan rakan yang akan mempamerkan yang mereka dah bertindik. Tapi kalau anak zabs dah 12 tahun mungkin dia tak heran lagi dengan apa yang kawan dia buat.

Pak Zawi said...

pb,
Tunggu sampai dia minta tindik la. Tak perlu paksa. Jaman lo ni pelik belako. Suka ikut perangai orang barat, sampai ada yang dah tatoo badan pun apatah lagi tidik.

pendita said...

Salam Pak Zawi..

Male ni kelik kg...huhuhuhu..

So lagi lewat ucap salam syukur atas kekuasaan Allah yang berlaku pada Kak Zura.. Semoga terus sihat walafiat..

Pak Zawi said...

pendita,
Selamat pulang ke kampong halaman. Kalu ada masa mari la jale Pasir Mas. Tel 09 7903785 apabila berada di Pasir Mass, saya akan beri arahan macamana nak datang ke rumah.
Terima kasih atas ucapan selamat.

Kak Teh said...

salam, am sorry I have not commented eralier but Alhamdulillah is all I can say. You and your family have been through a lot - but not alone.
And Allah answered your prayers.

A for the ear piercing - i couldnt bear to see the pictures.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
My daughter isn't safe yet as long as the tumour is there. Since it was diagnosed by biopsy test as cancerous, a second test is being done. The second test will confirm it and the operation to remove the tumour will be done 3 weeks time.
Since you belum bertindik yourself, I guess it may seems scary. I think it is notas painful as circumcision be it for males or females.

Rahman Hariri said...

This is one part of life that I guess I have missed thus far, having only boys myself. But like many, I would probably keep myself 100 m away from the event, until it is done! ;-)

Pak Zawi said...

rahman hariri,
You have Kak Teh as a friend. Kak Teh can't even look at the pictures what more look at the real act especially on that is done on a child.
The funny thing is that the kids themselves will ask for it. Definitely they don't want to be left behind when their peers dangled a beautiful pair of gold earings studded with some precious stones. With most people wearing telekungs nowadays, there is really nothing to show off since they will be covered.

Anonymous said...

So small already wearing ear-rings! Reminded me of my time when I had my ears pierced! I still remember the time .. I must have been about 2 years old .. not sure but very young.

Denice wants to wear ear-rings but she is afraid to have her ears pierced! :-O So see la, maybe when she is bigger.

Anonymous said...

salam..balqis: like a name of my friend's daughter. it turns out to be real..uncle, im a friend of azini, used to call her mc teq. never thought that she had a father who is actively blogging. love ur blog so much..

Pak Zawi said...

ainul,
Azini happens to be at home and I showed your comment to her. She asked me to convey her salam to you. Azini will be home in Pasir Mas untill she leaves to Labuan on the 14th of June. Balqis who has been with us the pass 6 months will be going back with her then.
Thank you for reading my blogs.

QriousStar said...

i am living in Kajang and after 4 boys we finally got a beautiful baby girl. she is 9mths now and i am looking high and low for a place that would pierce her ears. i saw many arab babies with pierced ears wearing earings when i was performing hajj this year. i was thinking of doing the same for her when i come back. unfortunately no luck til now. any suggestion for a place near by?