Moms, when did you decide to circumcise your boy? Did you make the decision before or after birth? Why?

Answer 1

My husband and I knew we were going to circumcise our son when we found out we were having a boy. My husband is circumcised and we are doing it for personal reasons. My son will be circumcised in the hospital before we go home.

Answer 2

I haven't had a son yet but I've already decided that he will be circumcised for hygenic,reasons, prevention of infection and it appears to make consideable sense. A foreskin may have been useful and effective in prehistoric times when men ran naked through the bushes - now it is nothing more than a vestigal organ.
I don't even have a man currently (some experience) but I'd say he had better have been circumcised or there will be no 'nooky' for him! I watched what my little brother went through when he was not circumcised at birth (had it done at age 6) and I vowed then that any males with whom I had contact would have to be circumcised.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Wayyy before his birth. People tend to make this decision based on misinformation and personal bias while it should be made based on facts and medical need(which there is NONE!)

All this talk about cleanliness is just hysterical, it's called soap people. Baby boys with intact genitals are no less clean than baby girls with intact genitals, and we don't rush to trim up their labia to make them "easier" to clean. The foreskin is actually there to protect the penis and keep it clean.

Here is a great article that dispells any myths surrounding male circumcision:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-circumcision.html

Here is how it is done:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6584757516627632617&q=circumcision&hl=en

Really worth it to save money on soap eh?

No medical organization in the world recomends infant circumcision, many speak against it and some statements have equated it to mutilation.
http://www.cirp.org/library/statements/

Besides, rates are down all over North America:
http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/bollinger2003/
http://www.courtchallenge.com/refs/yr99p-e.html

So why put your baby through all that pain and risk complications like these:
http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/complications.html
http://www.infocirc.org/fourn.htm

For no other reason than to look like Daddy?

Our sons don't match their Dad and neither have noticed yet.

Birth is a very emotional time and can make Momma feel vulnerable. Not the time to be makeing life altering decisions like this at all.

Good luck!
T

Answer 4

I was pretty sure I would circumcise before I even got pregnant. My younger brother needed one when he was 4 and that pretty traumatic and took almost a month to heal....compared to my boys they healed up in a week.

I talked to a lot of men about it and they all seem to like being circumcised. And, talking to my girlfriends I know women expect them to be circumcised. I've only had one uncircumcised boyfriend and he was pretty embarrased about it, not to mention it was the only time I ever got yeast infections. Its too bad there is so much fear mongering out there...its a pretty simple procedure and well worth it.

Talk to your doctor, read the links, and hopefully that will help...it is one of the harder decisions a parent has to make.

Lots of love,
Sara
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Answer 5

We did not circumcise our son. We read allot of information about it and found more proof of it to be a religious and aesthetic thing, more than a health issue, so, why to cause so much pain to your child for something that will not give any real benefit to him? Just teach him proper personal hygiene, that's all.

Answer 6

We made the decision before our son was born (37 weeks now). You don't want to have to make that sort of decision right after childbirth, you'll be too tired. You should do it, if you're going to, soon after birth, so he won't remember it. It's kind of like when they clip puppies' ears. At least that's my understanding. Talk to your prospective pediatrician about the pros and cons.

Answer 7

You stupid people, BOYS DO NOT NEED CUTTING ANY MORE THAN GIRLS DO. An intact boy is easier to keep clean than a girl is. They don't get as many infections as girls do!

You should realize that there is a very real risk of loss of sensitivity for the male, and other bad effects, as this study shows.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16037710&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum
Excerpts from the report:
Masood S, Patel HR, Himpson RC, Palmer JH, Mufti GR, Sheriff MK.
OBJECTIVES: Currently no consensus exists about the role of the foreskin or the effect circumcision has on penile sensitivity and overall sexual satisfaction. Our study assesses the effect of circumcision on sexually active men and the relative impact this may have on informed consent prior to surgery.
Penile sensation improved after circumcision in 38% (p = 0.01) but got worse in 18%, with the remainder having no change. Overall satisfaction was 61%.
CONCLUSIONS: Penile sensitivity had variable outcomes after circumcision. The poor outcome of circumcision considered by overall satisfaction rates suggests that when we circumcise men, these outcome data should be discussed during the informed consent process. 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

One out of five men circumcised suffers loss of sensitivity and one out of three is not satisfied with the results, these are not very good odds. I would point out that while this study shows that adult men should be warned of the possibility of sensitivity loss before they can give "informed consent" to circumcision, there is no way that a newborn boy can give his informed consent to an elective procedure that has a 1 in 3 chance of leaving him with an impaired sex-life.

His body. His choice.

NO BODY NEEDS TO HAVE SURGERY TO PLEASE SOMEONE ELSE!

Sara R: I doubt your brother "needed" a circumcision what he needed was a better doctor that could treat his problem without cutting; YOU KNOW LIKE THEY DO FOR GIRLS if he really had a problem with his foreskin it very likely came from sombody doing a forced retaction.
The men you know that seemed to like being circumcised simply love their penis, howerver it might be, they also love their football team even if it is loosing.

Do you realize that last year two million hospital patents got staph infections and that 90,000 of those people died? I would not put my newborn through a totally unnecessary surgery and expose him to any unneeded risk of a drug resistant infection. More than one million times last year patents got the wrong medication (that is what the hospitals admit to). Isn't it wise to take your whole baby home as quick as you can before any mistakes can be made?

Answer 8

I decided not to circumcise my son when I was 16 weeks pregnant. It's on the basis of I don't believe it's medically necessary or even beneficial; I would rather give him the oportunity to make the decision for himself when he's old enough.

Answer 9

There wasn't even a discussion. Both of us just knew that our son would have a circumcision. My husband had it done. We knew that our son would have a healthier life with it done.

My sister-in-law is a different story. She lives in Europe with her husband and says that she will never have it done for any of her sons. She said that most Europeans are not circumsized.

About the cleanliness issue ... There may be a time when your son isn't able to take care of himself anymore. Believe me, I worked in a nursing home for a couple years. I saw enough to know that it would be the right choice for my son.

Answer 10

I am 6 and a half months pregnant and I am planning to circumcise my son right away I came to this because it will be easier to keep it clean and I think its better