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Circumsize or not

Poll Results: Did you or would you circumsize you son(s)?

 
  • 65% (21)
    Absolutely
  • 28% (9)
    No
  • 6% (2)
    Undecided
32 Total Votes  
post #1 of 42
12/5/00 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
What are your opinions on this subject. My husband doesn't want our child (if a boy) to have it done. I on the other hand do, just for the main reason of as he gets older of hygenic reasons.
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post #2 of 42
12/5/00 at 11:04pm
I agree with you Tricia,We had both our sons circ. and even though I couldnt watch I had hubby go in.We had no problems making that decision,only because we both decided on that.I think it is a decision you both need to heavily discuss and decide together, Not just one person.But our reason behind it was also the health issue.Why add on to the many problems your baby might have to go through,colds,flu, ear infections, etc.But that was our reason for having it done.I hope you both can come to some sort of an agreement on what to do.
Diane
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post #3 of 42
12/5/00 at 11:25pm

Wow -- he watched?

We didn't even have that option. They took him to the nursery for his morning check up, then brought him back circumcised. I wouldn't have dare watched!

My hubby primarily made that decision. I didn't really have an opionion either way. I figured he knew best and since he felt strongly that we should do it, I agreed. He told me about knowing several guys in the military that had it done as adults for whatever reasons, so he felt it best to go ahead and have it done as a newborn.

Truthfully, I read up on the subject beforehand, and from what I've gathered, there really are no more hygiene or health issues with an uncircumcised male as long as he cleans properly.

I will tell you one thing - I ran across a site somewhere when Cody was a few weeks old that showed pictures of the procedure. It made me sick to my stomach to think of them doing that to my precious little boy. I was shook up for days.

But - that could have also been my hormones haunting me.

Either way, it is a decision that should not be taken lightly -- I hope you two can come to an agreement. That would be a difficult issue to not agree on 100%.

Good luck in your decision -- whatever it may be!
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post #4 of 42
12/8/00 at 1:22pm
This is a tough one. My DH and I chose to have both of our boys circumcised, but I know more and more parents are choosing not to. I think the "boys locker room" will look a bit different in the years to come with such a larger percentage choosing to remain uncircumcised. So, I see the issue of wanting a child to look like his peers fading. However, in our house, we did want them to be like Daddy, thus our choice. We would still circumcise if we have another boy.

It is a tough and very personal choice. Good luck in deciding on what is right for you and your family.
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post #5 of 42
12/24/00 at 12:26pm

Myths

It is a personal decision, but I think it's important that you know the truth--there is absolutely no truth to the old idea that it is more hygenic to be circumcised. Research can't prove it (though they've tried), and I personally know a lot of men in my life who aren't cicumcised and have never had a single problem. I think it caused problems in previous decades and centuries because people didn't used to shower every day, and living conditions weren't as sanitary as they are now. As long as a boy (and man) knows how to clean under the foreskin every day, just like a girl has to clean herself, there will not be any problem.
If you do decide to circumcise, that's certainly fine, just as long as you feel it is the best thing to do.
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post #6 of 42
1/18/01 at 4:15pm
Neither one of my boys are circumsized. I couldn't see causing them pain for no reason.As for hygene my three year old knows how to pull his own foreskin back and clean his own penis. It's just another one of the millions of things we teach our kids,after all, he wasn't born knowing how to clean behind his ears but I wasn't going to have them removed just to save myself the trouble of teaching him to do it himself.As for the increased chance of infection(which can't be proven,and is extremly rare in boys) there is a bigger chance of our appendix going bad and it is just as "unnessisary" as the foreskin is claimed to be, but I for one don't plan on asking my dr to remove it so my son never has to worry about apendicites.I had always thought I would have my sons clipped too until I met my husband,because I was worried about teaching him to be clean and having to take care of it when he was small,but after my cousins baby got an infection from his circ. and spent 2 days in the hospital with a fever and iv antibiotic(have you ever seen tubes running out of atiny baby?) I quickly changed my mind!! God gave us our parts for a reason and who am I to say his design is flawed.
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post #7 of 42
1/18/01 at 4:37pm
My husband made this decision I had nothing to do with it. Which was fine with me because I could have gone either way. My husband felt the same way as mamadoodle he wanted his son to be like him. We did not do it for health reasons because we knew that it would not matter. I have also heard of a lot of MEN who have decided to have this done when they were older and it was much more painful then but it was their decision to have it done though.

I think part of the reason my husband also had it done is because he is in the Navy and before that played football in high school and boys will be boys and make fun of other boys for being different. But I feel things will probably be different soon.

But this is a personal descions made between parents. I guess this topic is kind of like the breastfeeding topic. Some people feel strongly about doing it and others are totally against it. Whatever you decide will be the best decision for you and your family

Wendy
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post #8 of 42
1/19/01 at 7:25pm

re:Circumcision

Hi everyone,

This is such a tricky topic. Yes, I agree with some of the other posts--It is important that you realize this is NOT a medically necessary procedure. Hygiene is not a issue, care of uncircumcised penis is washing with soap and water, until foreskin is retractable--this may not occurr until puberty. However, when foreskin becomes retractable--simply teach your son to wash when retracting.

Did I have my 2 sons circumcised--Yes. My reasons, "So they would not be different from father." I would say in the area I live, 80-90% of parents are consenting to the procedure---It is a cultural issue, not medical one. Sometimes, times like this, I wish I had given it further thought. Good luck on your decision.
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post #9 of 42
3/6/01 at 11:48pm
Does anybody have good information on circumcision? I can't believe I never thought about it before now. I don't know anything about it. Pros? Cons? What kind of care do you have to give after leaving the hospital?
Is it really painful for the baby?
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post #10 of 42
3/7/01 at 12:02am
We personally did have Austin circumsized. Just out of the social aspet of life, and lots of the whole "i wanna be like daddy" thing (wouldn't matt love it if he knew i just told the world that.. hahaha)

The doctor that did it, said he did very well! He didn't cry, though they did use a little bit of numbing meds.. but afterwards, and when we got home it wasn't hard to take care of at all. If you use a lot of powder and stuff on them, you do have to make sure that it is all washed off.

Hope this helped some!
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post #11 of 42
3/7/01 at 12:06am
Thread Starter 

What to do?

We decided before we found out it was a boy that we would not have the baby circumsised if it was a boy.

We are sticking with that choice, I have read articles that it is painful for the baby and that some doctors will use aneasthetic to numb the penis, but that most doctors don't unless you ask them to.

Pros & Cons well that depends on who you ask. Sure if you do have him cicumsised he will look like dadddy and most other males, yes you have to take care of the area for a little while till it heals.

Uncut: have to teach the child as he gets older how to keep it clean by pushing back the foreskin, he will have more sensation at the top part of the penis. If he decides that he wants to be circumsised later in life it is painful.

You can do a general search to find out more. This is what I have read and found out from people who are both ways.
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post #12 of 42
3/7/01 at 12:10am
Here are a couple more articles to look at.

http://babyuniversity.com/cgi-bin/jump.cgi?ID=844
http://babyuniversity.com/cgi-bin/jump.cgi?ID=25


We had Cody circumcised also -- primarily for social reasons. I let hubby make that decision as I figured he was better equipped to do so (no pun intended LOL)

We really didn't do anything differently other than keep the area clean and dry, much like with the umbilical cord. In fact, my daughter wanted to know why he had two belly buttons.

It's a tough decision, and alot of people are very opinionated on the subject. I believe there's at least one other thread about circumcision. If you don't see it, try searching the forums. There were quite a few replies to it.
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post #13 of 42
3/7/01 at 1:16am
We did have Christian circumcised. Like Dawn I let DH make that decision. The doctor asked us and DH just said yes so that was that for us.

Our doctor did give Christian pain medicine and Christian never fussed at all about it when we changed his diapers.

The AAP does recommend that the baby have pain medicine now. But it is your job to check with your dr. to make sure that they are going to use pain medicine. If the dr. says no they aren't using meds. you can request another dr. that will use them.

There is an article about this in the new BabyTalk magazine. Which is where I pulled some of the info from.

The dr. gave us stuff kind of like Neosporin but for babies to put on it. If you decide on it, your doctor should sit down with you and discuss it. I know that ours did and after she talked to us she made us sign the consent paper. I feel that we were well informed by our doctor about the whole procedure.

Hope you decide what is best for you and your child

Wendy
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post #14 of 42
3/7/01 at 11:57am
We had decided not to with Brandon. DH's family (with whom we were living) kept pressuring me and I finally took Brandon (who can argru with two 75 year old g-moms and one's husband and MIL and FIN and sour looks from BIL?) down when he was about 6 weeks old. I had no sitter for Angela, but I don't think the nurses would have let me in there anyways. They either didn't use meds or they didn't use enough. I was not informed to give him Tylenol before we got there. Brandon was very unhappy about being strapped down to the papoose board. (He saw one again at age 3.5 years at the ENT and went into hysterics.) He was in pain in that area for almost a week afterwards and hated having his diaper changed because the diaper would stick to him.

Next boy, I will put my foot down. My youngest brother is fine at 16 years old. He actually liked the idea (when he was four) that he was different from our other 2 brothers.
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post #15 of 42
3/7/01 at 12:29pm
Like Wnedy said, you can request another doctor who will do the procedure. Which is what happened with us. But or docor didn't believe in doing the procedure, so we had another doctor do it. (Which i wasn't too happy about.. but he did a good job! He has a bad rap with deliveries.. so i didn't want him to hurt my poor lil baby's "area")

The only thing that they recommended I not use was vasaline because it doesn't let it "air dry" and heal.. and put off powder use for atleast 2 weeks after birth.

Here is a search result I found that has a lot of difference articles aslo..


http://my.webmd.com/search_results
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post #16 of 42
3/7/01 at 10:02pm
Thanks everybody. I am just so nervous about making the right decisions.
I watch my fave channel TLC all the time and the other day there was a show about a boy who grew up as a girl due to botched circumcision. It really scared me.
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post #17 of 42
3/15/01 at 7:43pm
hi I have been looking thru the old messages and this one caught my eye. I have two sons and both are circumsized so they would look like daddy. Yes, it will be tender and sore for oh, about two weeks. I had to apply generous amounts of vaseline and a sterile gauze bandage to the tip at every diaper change. My sons did fuss a little when ever they urinated so I know it was sore for them. I would avoid using any baby powder until it is completely healed. I cried of course, when they took them down the hall at the hospital to perform the circumsision even though I felt we were doing the right thing it is still hard knowing you are letting someone hurt your new baby. I think that it is easier for boys to keep this area clean as they get older if it is done but this is a call every parent has to make.
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post #18 of 42
3/15/01 at 10:03pm
Thanks again everybody for the articles and input. Michael and I have decided to have Zachary circumcised for a few different reasons. I am just so worried about my poor little boy and the pain.
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post #19 of 42
3/20/01 at 10:23pm
We had my son Gage done, He did very well, and i was very happy that the staff which preformed it was so caring. He didnt cry at all ,and even allowed us to be there when they did it. He recovered very fast and it wasnt hard to take care of afterwards. If our new baby is a boy i will deffinatly be doing the same.
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post #20 of 42
3/27/01 at 11:54am
I just have to comment, even though your post is a little old. We had a bad experience with my 2nd son's circ - He got a staph infection, and then was mis-diagnosed as having herpes (which is a really bad thing for a newborn to have). Luckily, another neonatologist came along and recognized it for what it was and got him started on antibiotics, but we had to endure some time in the NICU and a bunch of tests. The doc who did his did not recommend Neosporin or any special care other than washing gently and Vaseline to prevent the dipe from sticking. I think that's where we went wrong. I would just strongly advise you to use the Neosporin and gaurd against infection like crazy - wash hands BEFORE and after changes, Lysol the changing table, etc. And I would ABSOLUTELY ask for - at the very least - topical pain control. My first son they just took across the hall at the pediatrician's office and did it, and I could hear him scream the whole time. I was VERY thankful that my most recent baby was a GIRL!!
Belinda
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post #21 of 42
3/27/01 at 12:36pm
My husband and I decided to have Alexander circumcised for various reasons. He did wonderfully. The doctor gave him some numbing medication and although we weren't present, she said he did fine. He came back to us as soon as it was over and wasn't crying and never acted as if it bothered him. All we did was clean it well at each diaper change and put a little vasoline on it to keep it from sticking to his diaper. He never cried when he peed and never cried or fussed when we were cleaning it. From reading about others, we were lucky. If we have another boy, we will have him circumcised as well.
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post #22 of 42
4/9/01 at 1:28am
Did you or would you circumsize your son(s)?
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post #23 of 42
4/9/01 at 1:30am
You bet, it is healthier and easier to clean.
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post #24 of 42
4/9/01 at 12:24pm
There was no doubt we would do it. DH actually got into a very heated debate with a women in our lamaze class who was very against it. She said it was barbaric and inhumane. Our belief was more health reasons. My sis works in a nursing home and she quite often has to clean men who haven't been circumsized. She said it is embarrasing to them. I mean, we teach our children to clean themselves, but if something should ever happen to them....
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post #25 of 42
4/9/01 at 2:17pm
Yes, I agree with it, we had Austin circumsized and we will if we have another son.
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post #26 of 42
4/9/01 at 3:07pm
Definitely not! No one in my family (or my husbands) have been done. Have you seen it done? I don't know about the US but they don't hardly use any painrelievers...and to do such a thing to a baby Ohhh I would bawl. (Glad we had a girl *grin*)
We believe that if God created it that way then it should remain so.
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post #27 of 42
4/9/01 at 8:36pm
Here is a article from Web MD that talks about both sides of this.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/3609.220
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post #28 of 42
4/9/01 at 8:52pm
I voted yes because I let my husband make that decision. He chose to have it done. Mainly for the reason that he was circumsized.

We knew it did not matter about the cleanliness issue. We did it simply because DH was.

Now they do use pain medicine. At least the dr. who did Christian's did. She explained the whole procedure and informed us she never does it without pain medicine. If you are worried about the pain medicine, you can request that it be used and the dr.'s should follow what you wish.

Wendy
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post #29 of 42
4/9/01 at 9:00pm
Here is a similar thread about this topic.

http://www.babyuniversity.com/forums...?threadid=1239


Wendy
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post #30 of 42
4/10/01 at 1:56pm
My son was born in Ontario, Canada and they did use a painkiller. It's a topical they used. It took less than 5 min. and my son slept through the whole thing.
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