Did u get your baby circumcised?

Question

My son just turned 1. My doctor told me if I wanted to circumcise him to wait til hes about 1 for certain reasons. How many of u have had your baby circumcised and how many have not?

Answer 1

As a mother and a registered OB nurse, I beg you not to circumcise your son. Here's my story: my first son was circumcised. He almost bled to death & had to stay in the NICU of the hospital for several days. He's now fine but of course I always felt guilty about doing this to him. We really could have lost him. I wasn't a nurse at the time and I didn't really research circumcision, I just thought it was the thing to do. I'll always regret it.
Fast forward several years, I go to nursing school and learn how circumcisions are not only not recommended for routine baby boy health care, but I see first hand how barbaric it is. These babies do suffer and if somebody tells you their kid didn't cry, it's only because that child went into shock. I went on to have 2 more children, one being a boy. We chose to leave that son intact (uncircumcised) and he's been healthy and happy the whole time!
I work in an OB dept. in TX and I still see circumcisions and it breaks my heart. But the rates are dropping nation wide with my state have about a 35 - 40 % rate of uncircumcised boys. So I know my child will not be one of the only ones intact and he will not get teased like some generations past.

There are very few medically needed circumcisions. Most baby boys do not need the cut even if they have problems. Only aobut 1% will get a UTI in their first year of life and those are generally well treated with antibiotics. To put it all in perspective, 3% of baby girls get UTI's before they are 1 yr and the US doesn't circ. girls to prevent UTI's. We treat w/ meds.

For people who say foreskin looks gross, well, my response is God/Nature has been designing a perfect body for ages, who are we to knock it? It's not ugly, it's totally natural and I think it should be left alone.
For those who say having foreskin is a hygeine issue, it's not really. It was just as easy for me to wash my uncircumcised toddler as it was to wash the circumcised one. A girls labia will collect dead skin cells and smell if it's not cleaned daily, too. Again, we don't cut off girls genitals, we shouldn't cut off a healthy boys penis.

Somebody else already said no medical organization endorses routine infant circumcision of a healthy newborn male. That is true for both the US and the entire world.
About penile cancer - your son is more likely to get BREAST cancer than cancer of the penis. Of course, your daughter is at greater risk of breast cancer than a son but we don't remove a boy or girls breast tissue just to prevent a possible case of cancer.

Please just leave your son intact if he's having no health problems. If it's an issue of cosmetics, let him make the decision when he's older. Chances are, he will love the sensitivity of the foreskin and chose to leave it alone as nature intended.
Remember, I came very close to losing my first son due to a bleeding from a botched circumcision. Usually circs are fairly uncomplicated but not all ones are. I'd hate for any other mother to go through the guilt I did or the blood loss my son did for no reason.

I'll provide some links so you can research what I've said but at the very least, please watch the video of the circumcision. At least you'll know what you're getting your son into if you choose to circ.
Good luck to you and your son in whatever decision you make.

video - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6584757516627632617&hl=en

Answer 2

My 15 month old son is not circumcised, nor will he ever be unless he decides it for himself as an adult.
It is very rare that a doctor recommends waiting until after age 1 to circumcise. If you were considering circumcision, what are your reasons? Circumcision is not medically necessary. The only study done that has proven true is that circumcision lowers the risk of UTI in the first year of life. Even then only about 1% of uncircumcised boys get a UTI. If your son hasn't had one yet, he probably won't have a problem at all.
Visit my source sites, they are very informative. Just remember, it's your son's penis, not yours. Ultimately, it should be his decision.

Answer 3

It is healthier for a male to be circumcised. The 8th day after birth is the best time to have a child circumcised. There is less bleeding.
Uncircumcised males are more likely to carry the HIV virus than circumcised males.
Plus when uncircumcised men get really old like in their 80s or 90s the foreskin changes and can cut off circulation to the penis; then they must be circumcised at that late age and it is so painful I heard say.

Answer 4

I don't have a boy but if I do I'm not circumcising him. I don't feel qualified to make the decision concerning his genitals. And even before I decided not to circumcise, I wouldn't have done it a whole year later, I'd be afraid that it would traumatize him too much.

Answer 5

Has your son's foreskin posed any sort of a problem? My son is not circumcised. Whoever said that it's easier for them to clean obviously has never cleaned an intact penis. I don't have to pull anything back, or do any sort of extra cleaning. The foreskin is supposed to be attached to the head much like your fingernail is attached to your fingertip, early in life. Eventualy, it will retract on it's own. We have to teach our little girls to clean themselves correctly, should we alter them in some way because it's "too hard"? Should we cut off their outer labias so it's easier to clean?

If anything, circumcising him would just be one more thing you have to worry about, really. For me, the risks of doing it were just too much. It's invasive, and I personally don't feel it's my choice to make. If he feels "out of place" (which, by looking at recent circumcicion rates dropping, it won't be so unheard of) HE can make that decision on his own as to whether or not he wants a foreskin. It is NOT a deformity and NEVER harms a baby NOT to circumcise. On the other hand circumcision has been known to killl babies. Who KNOWINGLY takes that risk?

The "benefits" of circumcision are so low it IS pointless to do it. Why is it,that if it's supposed to lower the risk of STDs, the US has one of the highest rates of STD, HIV, and AIDS? Most of the "benefits" circumcision is said to have happen in about 1% of men. It is said to lower the risk of penile cancer, and less than 1% of the population is even diagnosed with it. A man has more of a chance of getting BREAST cancer than penile cancer. Yes, breast cancer.

Anyways, please, just research this before you do it. Not only do I personally think it's invasive and cruel on a completely healthy baby, it also has NO real medical benefits that are sufficient enough for ANY medical organization in the world to endorse.

Answer 6

I would have to disagree with getting babies circumcised.

"Natural" guys are hot. It's the way our species have been sexually selected, so has to have been better in some way. It's supposed to feel better for the guy as well, because the place where the foreskin attaches to the penis is full of nerve endings.

If you choose to have your son circumcised, can you deal with the possiblity of a botched operation (see http://www.circumcisioninfo.com/cps1.htm , Complications of circumcision)? A "worst case scenario" would be scary -- http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/reimer/ & http://www.cirp.org/news/theguardian05-12-04/. If you're okay with this small but plausible possiblity, then go ahead. I mean, there are still lots of circumcised guys who're okay.

But if you've already waited until he's 1 year old, why not just wait until he's an adult? Then he can decide for himself whether he wants to be circumcised or not.

Answer 7

I had my son circumcised when he was born and I would recommend it as my ex-husband had to get circumcised at the age of 32 and it was very painful. I mean it is a hygiene issue more than anything and also the fact that I was having problems because the excess skin that he had would really irritate me while we were being intimate. So, if you can do it now, and like that you can save him much headache when he is a young man...

Answer 8

We had a girl 5 months ago. If she was a boy I was NOT going to get him circumcised. There are too many negative aspects to it. It hurts the child and even if insurance will pay for it (not all do now) I would not have it done. I did a great deal of research and we did not want to know the gender of our child until birth. So, I was ready to tell them NO if we had a boy.

Answer 9

I don't have a son, but my sister does. She got in circumcised in the hospital right after he was born. Apparently they didn't do it right the first time and they had to go back in for a second. My sister said that it was horrible, that they cut the rest of the skin off and then had to burn him to make the bleeding stop. It was horrifying.

Answer 10

had 4 sons had all circumcised in the hospital before we went home