to circumcise or not???

Question

im due w/ a baby boy in 3 days and i really dont want to have him circumcised but his dad does. he says it will be hard for our son to "look different than him, and most other guys" .... guys, does it really matter??

please no smart a** comments! this is a serious question from a concerned mother-to-be

Answer 1

I feel the same way you do.
My husband is also circumsized and he wants our future boys to be, but the fact is it's not necessary anymore and is a pointless extremely painful minor surgery for a newborn, or any baby, to go through for no good reasons, in my opinion.
For some odd reason the dad's who have been circumsized ALWAYS want their boys to be, too! Who cares if their penis' match anyway? It's not like they're gonna compare them one day! And it'll just teach the little boy as he's getting older that not every penis is the same. silly, I know.

I also have heard and read that a baby who's been circumsized withdraws from it's mother and acts upset and pulled back from and towards her for several days following a circumsision. This alone will prevent me from making my little boys go through that unecessary torchure!!

good luck convincing your husband!!

:)

Answer 2

that is a popular topic with parents. There are more men in the world that are uncircumcised than have been cut. This ritual was used for religious purposes in the past for supposed cleanliness and has no bearing on todays society. I have two boys, one circumcised, one not. There is no difference in the ability to keep them clean. I only regret having getting my first one circumcised because of the pain he had to go through and the painful healing process that took to get over it. When a may gets older, I have heard from other men that there is nothing different going on in say the locker room for kids that are not circumcised. Or if he goes into the military...everyone has to shower together during basic training at least. I was in the military and have heard of no such thing as a man being pointed out for something that is more common than most people think.

I would suggests not to get it done. like I said. The cleanliness thing is just a myth. you just have to keep it clean just like everything and everyone else does. you need to do that with either decision.

Answer 3

Out of all the research I've done on the topic, I've found that the general trend is going more toward uncircumcised now. Right now it's about 50/50 in the US. The numbers vary depending on what part of the country you are looking at. Going by world percents, only about 15% of the world's population is circumcised.
As for the "looking different than dad" thing, he's not going to notice that. A little boy will notice the pubic hair or size difference before he notices a foreskin. I never saw my father naked, so I grew up not knowing and not worrying about if he was the same or different than me. And when it comes time for me to have boys, they will not be circumcised and it doesn't concern me one bit that they will look different than me.

Answer 4

Some people had religious beliefs or other cultural concerns so it matters.
I had the same discussion with the father about it. I considered the same thing - that he'd look different than his peers later on - but I just decided to explained to him if he asked.
I came from a culture where we don't circumcized the sons. No guys in my family had circumcision before so I decided to go along with the culture.

Besides, it's a surgery. that's kind of make my heart sank. And from what I read on the internet when I did my research on the topic, circumcized boys tend to be more sensitif to pain, thus they will cry more often. I'm not sure that's true though.

Answer 5

It doesn't matter if he looks different from his father or other guys. That's why people are individuals and not groups.

Most people aren't circumcising anymore. It's not medically necessary and some are refusing to do it for religious purposes, as well.

I have read, if you do choose to do it, it's best not to circumcise until the baby is 8 days old, which though part of the Jewish religious teaching, has been shown to have medical basis. The newborn male's body isn't prepared for such an event at 1 or 2 days old.

Do your own research and make your own decision. We don't circumcise.

Answer 6

You should leave your baby alone because it's his body and no one should cut off a part of it unless he's old enough to consent. It's no accident nor is it a disease to be born with foreskin. It won't be hard for your child to have his skin their cuz most of the world's boys arn't cut and it's become less common in North America. It's not cleaner unless he is unhygenic and can only be seen as cleaner by having one less body part to clean. Can you really imagine your son growing up with a normal healthy penis and want it cut off cuz his friends cut off theirs. All the guys in Europe say they couldn't imagine not having their foreskin and don't understand why they cut it off over here. Besides that, your cutting of sexually errogoneous skin, your husband will probaby say he's happy with his but he also does not know what he's missing. under the head is most sensitve part and the tighter the cut the more of that sensitive skin is cut off and head is naturally only suppose to come out during erosal and havin it cut will desentisize your childs penis head. The so called health benefits are for totally rare effects. getting hit by a car is more likely. also totaly cruel, can't understand y som1 would do that to such a small baby. look at the video and watch it get done and use common sense, y pull teeth to prevent cavities or circumcise woman to prevent UTI's or cut off breat to prevent cancer etc. Would you circumcise your daughter if most woman in this country were circumcised?

Answer 7

If you feel that you should keep your child intact, you should keep your child intact and not consent to circumcision.

Circumcision is essentially cosmetic surgery on the genitals of an person who has no possible way of providing informed consent. It is unnecessary.

If your son wants a circumcision later in his life, he can always make that choice; but by routinely circing him in his infancy you and your partner would rob him of that choice.

Additionally, routine infant circumcision is waning in popularity and it's last stronghold is the US. Many countries have even outlawed the practice (outside of religious circumcision) because it is considered a violation of human rights as every child has the right to be genitally intact.

Circumcision carries many risks, perhaps you can inform your partner of these risks which include infection, adhesions, amputation, hemmorhage, gangrene of the scrotum and other complications. It can also lead to problems breastfeeding.

Your son doesn't need to look like his father. There are many intact sons of circ'ed men, and it's something that you can easily explain. My husband is circ'ed (and harbors resentment against his parents for taking away his choice) and our son is not. Also, with circ rates dropping to less than 40% in some areas of the nation, your son really won't look different from most guys.

Also studies indicate that less than 3.5% of intact men would choose to or need to have the surgery performed later in life, which essentially means that by choosing to circ at birth there's a 96.5% chance you'd be making a decision that your son would not choose for himself.

Perhaps both you and your partner should watch a video on circ so that you can see exactly what happens to a newborn when surgery is performed on his genitals.

Be strong, and don't be pushed into the decision to circ your son because your partner wants him circed. That might be a desicion you would deeply regret later.

Answer 8

with foreskin the penis is more prone to infections if not properly cleaned. from that standpoint it might be a wise idea. in the future, it won't make that huge of a difference in anything else, not that i've read anyway. if you have to flip a coin, so you and the father don't have to argue over it. either way, the boy can still grow into a healthy man. i'm lucky i had a girl, but i would've done the circumcision. i just prefer it that way.

Answer 9

Do the research and decide for yourself which is the right decision for him. I chose not to do it for my son because I was not convinced that it was the best thing to do.
As far as your son being different than others, I wouldn't worry too much about it. More and more people are deciding against doing it now so when your son is at the age that he would be showering in the gym with other boys there will be other kids like him. Also, as someone else stated in another similar question - who do you think will get teased more, your son with the different penis or the boy who is looking at it?

Answer 10

Do it. You husband is right. He has one and knows best on this one. Girls will look at him differently also. That is very important to a man and a developing boy in High School PE or sports when he may be naked in front of friends, who will be pick on and everyone will know. You have to go with the norm on this one. I have a now 6 year old son. I never questioned it. I definitely wanted it done.