Hilary Duff Mom-Shamed For Piercing Daughter Banks’ Ears

Hilary Duff recently decided to spend some mother-daughter time with her 8-month-old baby girl, Banks Violet Bair. She shared a photo of herself and Banks on Instagram, one wherein she and Banks are both laughing. A small pair of earrings are visible in Banks’ ears, and though the caption doesn’t mention the piercing, many followers noticed it right away. As InStyle reports, Duff ended up confirming her choice to pierce her daughter’s ears in her Instagram stories, and many fans immediately started shaming the star for her decision.

One fan questioned her decision bluntly.

“I can’t fathom why you would think it’s okay to have your daughters ears pierced. Causing her a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort. Was she able to ask you to have them pierced? Was she able to agree to have them pierced… And tell me how did it make you feel sitting there and watching her have pain inflicted on her unnecessarily?”

While several fans shared in the opinion that Duff shouldn’t be piercing her baby girl’s ears, many others jumped to her defense. They brought up points such as the fact that in many cultures, having your child’s ears pierced at a young age is quite common. Many also took issue with the intense claims Duff’s haters were making, saying that an ear piercing was hardly likely to traumatize a child.

While it’s undoubtedly difficult for any parent to face such harsh criticism, Duff hasn’t responded to her critics. Banks may be a newborn, but Duff has already been a mom for over seven years now. Her son Luca, who she had when she was married to NHL player Mike Comrie, was born way back in 2012. While parenting a girl may be a different experience, Duff already knows how to care for a child, so she’s likely just shrugging off her haters’ comments.

Duff isn’t the first celebrity parent to face criticism for this specific decision. Young mom Kylie Jenner recently shared a video in which her daughter, Stormi, has pierced ears, as Vogue reports. Stormi was only 5 months old at the time, a few months younger than Duff’s baby, Banks. Several critics questioned Jenner’s decision at the time, but many others rose to her defense, sharing their stories about ear piercings and the role they play in their culture.

The initial photo that Duff shared featuring herself and her daughter received over 2,700 comments in just a few days, proving that even the tiniest decisions can cause huge controversies on social media.