Did you make the decision to circumcise or not circumcise him prior to the birth, or until when the doctor asked. What was your ultimate decision? Why did you make the decision? My husband and I are having a boy in 4 weeks and we have not decided what to do about this yet. We are thinking about leaving him intact.
2007-02-04 07:44:52 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
leave it intact.unless theres a medical reason for it or a religious reason.
2007-02-04 07:47:48 · answer #1 · answered by ? 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
We did not circumcise our son and are very happy with our decision. While I was pregnant, my husband and I were planning on circumcision, but after our son was born, he was having some nursing difficulties. I was afraid that if we circumcised him, it would make the nursing problems worse. I thought it was important to my husband, because he is circumcised, but when I talked to him about it again, he told me he really didn't care. So, we decided to not have it done, and it has not been a big deal at all. Contrary to what one poster said, you do not have to clean it at every diaper change. All my pediatrician told me to do it pull it back during bath time to let water swish through there. Then, teach him to do it himself when he is 3 or 4. 30 seconds at every bath time-no big deal at all.
If you do decide to circumcise anyway, do not get it done in the hospital. Research shows that the Jewish practice of circumcision on the 8th day is best in terms of amounts of pain experienced and for healing. It should be no problem for your pediatrician to do it in their office on the 8th day.
I think you should only circumcise for religious reasons or a few limited health reasons, like if there is a lot of uncontrolled HIV in your community, or if there is a family history of foreskin problems. BTW, by religious reasons, I mean Jewish. Christians have no religious reason to circumcise. The apostle Paul said that he wished that the people advocating circumcision would go the whole way and emasculate themselves.
2007-02-08 14:41:09 · answer #2 · answered by Jennifer B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, I don't think there's anything wrong with leaving him intact. Honestly, I would not have done it if my husband hadn't pushed for it (he was afraid our son would feel different if he didn't look like his dad and other boys). What I did to ease my mind is some research about anesthetics. I discovered that if my OB/GYN did it, she would only use a topical anesthetic and the baby would still feel quite a bit of pain. But I found out that the pediatrician I had chosen could do it and he would use a "ring block" anesthetic which would make it more comfortable and less traumatic for the baby. Here is some info about "ring block" anesthetics:
http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/aa41253
2007-02-04 15:55:52 · answer #3 · answered by April 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
There are different veiws to having it done or not having it done. I had my son done but the dicision wasn't really mine to make the Dr came in and said were circumcising him and did it. I was young and just said okay.
I am currently a nursing student and actually saw the procedure being done. Would I put my son through that again? Probably so, but I think the real decision comes with the resopnsiblity of keeping it clean and watching it closly. What I mean is with ever diaper change you have to make sure you move the skin back and clean it with a warm wash cloth and move the skin back. You have to watch for infection if you don't clean it properly. You have to watch for swelling and redness. Then later when they are older you have to teach him the importance of keeping it clean, and watching for all the above. And if you really want to think about it you could think about when he is older and if he lands in the nursing homes if they are going to take care of it properly. I have been in nursing school since Sept. and have seen many old men with effected penises because they weren't being taken care of properly.
I guess my point is you need to decide if you are willing to take all the care that is needed to take care of an uncircumcised penis.
then there is the 1% of men that are uncircumcised that end up with penial cancer but that is another story for another day.
you probably thing that i am crazy but I just wanted you to know what actually is involved in an uncircumcised penis.
2007-02-04 15:59:32 · answer #4 · answered by evrythnnxs 4 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Hubby and I decided before our son was born. We wanted all the doctors and nurses to know our wishes and not have them do something we didn't want. We did NOT have him done. We made the decision because hubby isn't for starters. Also we heard the whole deal about how it is so much more sanitary and blah blah blah... we figured we would teach our son well enough that he wouldn't get or give any weird diseases. My son better behave himself or I didn't do my job. You do whatever you are comfortable with but I didn't because that would hurt!!! OUCH!! Good luck
Also.. you don't have to force the skin back to clean it. It naturally cleans itself until the skin comes back easily. Then it is a little soap and water. Not hard. (My sons still doesn't pull back all the way and he is 4.) And... 50% of men or boys are not circumcised so it is common either way.
2007-02-04 15:50:26 · answer #5 · answered by Mrs. Always Right 5 · 5⤊ 3⤋
Would one have one's daughter circumcised? No (and it would be a criminal offence)
The US is now the only western country where circumcision of infants is done routinely. That should speak for itself. Even in Canada, where a generation ago most male infants were circumcised, now only a very small proportion are.
There are many arguments can be brought forward -- for me, the most telling are set out in
http://www.cirp.org/pages/parents/
The arguments adduced for routine male circumcision are exactly the same as the arguments in favour of routine female circumcision or, as it's normally described, female genital mutilation which, ironically, is a crime in the US.
2007-02-07 11:29:38 · answer #6 · answered by Feinschmecker 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
in our case, because uncurcumcised members of my hubby's family had to have it done in their teens because it grew over, we opted to save him the agony and do it as a baby, just in case - because historically circumcision is so common, this sort of problem is not so uncommon, and the risk of having it done as an adult is not worth the suffering my hubby went through - another thing is, though they say it's easy to keep clean, I didn't find it so easy, and was relieved when he was circumcised because I felt much more confident about cleaning it - it may be easy for the man when it's bigger and he knows it well, but as a mom, it's so hard. Good luck, whatever you decide.
ps - he didn't seem to suffer, cried for about 3 minutes, then was fine, so don't be afraid of causing him pain, it could be way worse if he has to do it as an adult - and if you decide against it, if it does grow over, it's not your fault, it is often genetic...
2007-02-04 15:52:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I didn't want to simply because I didn't want him to go through the pain but my mom and oldest brother pressured me. One of my brothers and my husband aren't circumsized and they're perfectly fine. I didn't know until I got married that boys receive more pleasure during sex when they're NOT circumsized, something not even the doctor told me. I regret doing it on my son especially a few months later when I realized too much was cut off. You don't hear of cases where boys die or are ill due to the lack of being circumsized. I definitley regret it. It broke my heart when they did it cause he screamed at the top of his lungs. Really think about it before doing so. Good luck!
2007-02-04 16:03:13 · answer #8 · answered by Wiser now 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
my first boy i was 22 and a single parent. hands down i chose circumcision. my 2nd boy however i was older and married and had the option to talk it over with his circumcised father. we chose not to circumcise the baby. we've never had any problems (so far) with the baby not being circumcised. hes just 1 now. i vote do not circumcise. good luck no matter what you choose. --you do not pull back the foreskin at all to clean it during the first year! it will detach itself then you pull back to clean after that!--
2007-02-04 16:14:16 · answer #9 · answered by happychick 2 · 3⤊ 2⤋
There was no big decision to make. My son was circumcised right at the hospital by the pediatrician we selected prior to his birth.If I were jewish then it would be different.The longer you wait the more painful for your child.We didn't want him to feel that he was any different than others boys as he grew older.
2007-02-04 15:54:07 · answer #10 · answered by miss-snoopy 4 · 3⤊ 2⤋
My son is almost 5 months old. We made the decision beforehand. We pretty already decided on our own, but we also talked to the pediatrician that we picked out for him and he also strongly urged us to do it. I know some of the reasons are sanitary reasons... Aesthetically it is better as well (for when he gets older of course). Most boys seem to be whatever the father was (just my experience with friends who have had babies). Good luck! Try to get as much sleep as you can now!
2007-02-04 15:55:11 · answer #11 · answered by JadeAMurray 2 · 3⤊ 3⤋