Should I have my son circumcised?

Question

My son is due in May, this is our first child. My husband is American and is circumcised as are most Americans I am told, I am English and most men from England are not circumcised. What are your thoughts.

Answer 1

I had all 3 of my boys circumcised - here are a couple reasons that don't deal with my faith.....

1) Thinking about boys as they get older - will they push back the foreskin and truly keep it clean? If they don't - will they actually tell you if they have an infection....they'd probably have to show you - and/or a dr.....odds are - the child/teen will wait until it's REALLY bad before saying something....

2) Still thinking about them once they're in sports - what are the odds that he'll be the only one NOT circ'd? will the other boys make fun - will it make your son uncomfortable? (what about girls?) probably - would you want to put your son in that position?

3) If you don't - and your son wants it at some point - the amount of pain he'll go through then will be absolutely excrutiating! (sp?) If you get it done and over with now - he'll NEVER remember the pain! It's easier and better to get it done right after birth than waiting!!

Personally - I think it's sooooooo much cleaner and for lack of a better word - sanitary - to have a circ. It's extremely easy to take care of after it's done - and it doesn't take long for them to heal. Here's what I did - you get "tubes" of vaseline - and literally squirt a ton on the diaper where the penis is going to touch - the body's warmth will melt the vaseline and completely coat the circ......it's absolutely the least painful way to do it for an infant!

I hope this helps - like I said - I've gone through 3 sons getting the circ so I'm soooo used to it!

Congratulations on your son! You are about to become "Queen"!! Enjoy!!!

Answer 2

This is a tough one. For son #1 they did it 2 weeks after birth at the docs office. It was horrible and I felt like a barbarian.
They don't give any pain med or anesthesia and strap them to a board. I had to be escorted out and my husband stayed with hiim. For son #2 I was so against it but since husband and first son had it done felt that #2 would feel funny not being the same. They did it in the hospital shortly after birth without me there. I felt like a coward. I allowed the mutilation. Luckily #3 was a girl. If I had a #4 and it was a boy I honestly don't know how I could go through the choice again. If being uncirc'ed promoted infections wouldn't you hear about it alot? Like commercial for special creams and such? Why would a male be born with a foreskin if it were bad? This might be a choice best left to your husband.

Answer 3

Hey there!
This is a great question, though many answerers are very misinformed about circumcision. I will give you some websites for you to look at, and you can make the decision for yourself after looking. But I will give you a short rundown of why you should NOT circumsize your sons.

First of all, contrary to pop. belief, there is NO MEDICAL EVIDENCE that states that an uncirced penis is more vulnerable to infections. Actually, a circed boy has a much greater risk for infection immediately after a circumcision until it heals. Many boys face complications with a circed penis, and also deal with pain for the weeks it takes to heal. Even if anethesia is used, it is still painful during and afterwards.

Circumcision is in NO WAY necessary. It is PURELY a cosmetic procedure that is barbaric and painful to a newborn. (would you get your baby a nose job, just because you thought a smaller one would be "cuter"? or to make it look "more like daddy'"?) An adult male will be put under if a circumcision is needed (only about 1 in 100 men will have one) and pain meds prescribed to help the pain. My grandpa had it done as an adult, and he said he never felt any pain at all. With a newborn, the forskin hasn't detached from the glans yet, so the doc has to RIP it off of the glans, and crush it before he can amputate it. So, you can choose to have a newborn baby circed, with intense pain, and possible adverse complications from an anesthetic (if it is even used) or infection because it is in a diaper all day, OR you can leave it alone. If it ever had to be done, it would be pretty painless to an adult and not at all traumatizing.

Secondly, the foreskin is there for a reason! It is the most sensitive part of the penis, and very useful. Look it up, you'd be surprised. It protects the newborns penis from infection and is very easy to clean.

Thirdly, more than 50% of people in the U.S. are no longer circumsizing their boys. So, the lockeroom excuse is no longer true. Uncirced boys will be the majority. (plus, if you are a male, you know that you'd get teased because of looking at another guy's penis before you'd get teased at the way it looks!!)

Please, do some research. My mom regrets sorely that she ever had my 3 brothers circumsized. My fiance is circed, and he is not worried about his son's "looking like him". He told me, he'd just tell them if they ever asked that they "got to keep all of it, while he had some of it cut off when he was a baby."

Please, stop the madness!

Answer 4

Actually not most Americans are circucised. It's about 50/50 these days. I had my son in 1998 and looked into why people circumsised their boy's. It was origionally done for cleanleness reasons. My parents never circumcised my brother's either and we are American. In fact just about everyone I know has never circumcised their son. Other than that I know the Jewish religion still does it and so does some African tribes. Just so you know it is not a pleasant process for your baby. Make sure you know everything they will be doing.

Answer 5

That is a very very personal decision, My mother is English also, My father is an American.

All the males in my family are circumcised for health reason, Many doctors believe that the risk of certain male infection are due to not being circumcised.

As a nurse it is hard to say if it is true or not.

My belief is ask your doctor many questions, that you have on the subject.

Answer 6

Yes Have Him Circumcised

Answer 7

Before you make a decision ask yourself why?? Why does it need to be done. If it was meant to be done the skin would not be there in the first place. I have four boys and none of them are (in Australia it is becoming a less common practice). My husband has been done as it was the thing back then. My boys have no problems with the differences. As for infections - boys just need to be taught to clean properly. When they are old enough the skin can then be pulled back to clean. I have seen them being done. There was no anesthetic used as they are very young and there is the rest of severe bleeds. It is a personal choice but think of the reasons for wanting it done.

Answer 8

I would answer this on two fronts:

1) Your son will be growing up in the US? Here most boys are circumcised and their female partners expect their male partner to be circumcised. Circumcision would help him fit in.

2) The procedure does have a lot of health benefits and now a days is basically painless (from a mom with two boys).

I've done a bit of research that I'll share:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070307-12451700-bc-us-circumcise.xml

http://www.physorg.com/news86339340.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1141513

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/fishman/2006/circumcision.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15593753/

http://www.circinfo.com/parents_guide/gfp.html
even the World health Organization is recommending it now:
http://www.who.int/hiv/mediacentre/news68/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/mediacentre/MCrecommendations_en.pdf

If you have any questions, feel free to message me and hope everything goes okay.

Sara

Answer 9

Hi,
I didn't have my son circumcised. There are alot of down falls to it. Many things can go wrong with circumsion, like missing half the foreskin, some of the foreskin regrowing back, etc.
I suggest you use Google, and research the facts on circ.
I wish you the best of luck.

Answer 10

I left this decision up to my husband. I figured he was the best person to decide. He is NOT circumcised, but he decided to have our son circumcised. His decision was based on the fact that he had been teased growing up by kids in the locker room, girls, etc.