does he need to be circumcised?

Question

when i had my son i was told not to pull his foreskin back to much when cleaning it as the skin was still attached. he is now 11 months old and the skin is still half attached. is this normal? if yes at what age should it completly detach? if not will he need to be cicumsised?

Answer 1

of course get it done! where r u from u dum biitctch?

Answer 2

Put him in the tub and leave it alone. Do not obsess over cleanliness in that respect. A lot of mom's here in Australia do not have their sons circumcised.
Circumcision is based upon religious cleanliness, do you really think children that are born from the womb need altered? I can see the cleft palate requiring some assistance if there is eating problems, but this is the other end!

Secondly, the skin releases as the baby grows, relax and for goodness sake let it be!

Answer 3

In several years time it will detach. As a child there is no particular need to clean under it at all. There is also no need to clean inside the eye lids or the lungs. Until puberty the glans of the penis is essentially an internal organ and should be treated as such.
Circumcision is only necessary for religious reasons and in a tiny fraction of the population for medical reasons. Having it removed for cleaning purposes would be like sawing off your hands to prevent getting broken fingernails.

Answer 4

Hi there. It's true: the American Paediatrics Association recomends not circumcising. By age 5 the foreskin should retract without adhesion. There is a condition called Phimosis in which there is a persistent adhesion of the foreskin to the glans, which requires surgery later on. I know somone who has significant "scarring" from a botched circumcision, and it's pretty awful. Circumcision has falled out of favour greatly in many communities. CONVERSELY, studies show that men who are circumcised have less incidence of penile cancers AND are less likely to pass on Human Papiloma Virus (HPV can cause cervical cancer) to their partners as well as other STDs.

From a social perspective, almost all of my friends whose partners are uncircumcised admit to wishing that they were. But that's not exactly a 'clinical' fact!

In terms of keeping your wee boy clean, you can use a peri-bottle with mild warm water when you change him or in the bath to clean around/under his foreskin, but don't force it to retract it if it's adherant in places, it almost always resolves by age 5. Good luck, and if you are worried, see your GP.

Answer 5

Unless you would be doing it for religious reasons - in today's day and age with hygiene and health standards being what they are - there is no real need for circumcision. As long as the area is being cleaned regularly then it's unlikely bacteria will grow. Apparently circumcision as a health practice used to be used amongst native tribes such as the aboriginals as due to their living conditions, it was far easy to maintain a standard of hygiene without clean, fresh running water and soap.

Answer 6

i am a nurse who specialised (for my sins) in genito urinary medicine ie i did a lot of circumcisions for religious and medical reasons! i also have two sons, one circumcised one not, boys foreskins will not retract until they are at least five, until then you dont need to do anything with it..after that encourage your son to gently retract it a little each time he is in the bath or shower. symptoms that he needs circumcising are when he wees his foreskin balloons out or he gets an infection. but dont worry if it balloons at the moment this is normal. people who say you never need tyo clean under it are mistaken im afraid. you do but not till he's older..when they first start doing it they dont like it much so just encourage gently, but i certainly dont do it for him.

Answer 7

Ooh! My eyes are watering just thinking about it. Leave it alone. Normal bathing will keep it clean. He only needs circumcising if he's having trouble urinating. Otherwise it's a matter of choice.

Seems to me it should be his choice whether or not to have a foreskin, not yours, but I know a lot of people disagree on that one.

Answer 8

Oh my gosh, don't pull it back AT ALL. You could create adhesions which would be painful and might necessitate needing medical intervention. It is COMPLETELY normal for it to not retract at all until the child is much, much older. Only if he's having pain with erections or difficulty urinating should you be concerned.

Here's some info about care of the intact penis: http://www.cirp.org/pages/parents/peron1/

Answer 9

OK I am a nurse and I have 2 sons. I chose to have them circumcised. You don't have to, it's your choice.
If you choose not to, then the foreskin does have to be pulled back gently and you need to clean under it, and then gently pull it back down. This is very important. If it isn't kept clean under there, all sorts of bacteria can grow and cause infection. Plus it can give infections to his wife later on if he doesn't learn good hygiene early.
It's simply a matter of choice. I'd say probably half the men in America are circumcised and half are not.
But nothing is going to detatch by itself.
If you do decide to have him circumcised, get it done asap because it's going to hurt.
My advice is to leave it alone.

Answer 10

ask your pediatrician, we use to get young boys in the OR all the time that just had adhesions. the doctor would use a light sedation, and once the child was "asleep" the Dr would the pull the skin back, releasing the adhesions. Then he would apply a thick coat of neosporin and possibly a small bandage. Its no biggy, and no you dont need to get him circumsized.

Answer 11

My son is just over 4 years old and his foreskin still doesn't come all the way down to show the head of his penis. The doctor said it is fine. He said to leave it alone. The longer it stays covered the less chance of infection. I saw one persons comment on here that says have him snipped he will thank you later?!? LOL.. I say leave it alone and his wife will thank you later. LOL