If you circed your boys, WDYT about this?

rayskit10 · February 2010

this scenario doesn't apply to people who chose not to circ, but feel free to chime in.

for moms who did circ, i am curious what you think about this:

there was another family at TCH with us waiting for surgery this morning. we struck up a conversation and the mom told me they were there to get their son circumcised. he is adopted and they obviously didn't do it at birth and he is just now on their insurance to pay for it. he is just over 2 years old. the anesthesiologist came out to consult with them and they were going to have to put the kid completely under via mask, then give him an IV and basically an epidural.

to me, that seemed like an awful lot to put a 2 year old through for circ, esp when we now know that lots of the old school CW isn't true (disease prevention or cleanliness concerns, as examples). i am betting it's a religious thing, but still seems like an awful lot to me.

so, if you circ'ed your baby, would you circ a boy at 2 years old with all the anesthesia processes they have to go through?

TexasHarmony · February 2010

We circ'd J. I left the decision up to K and he wanted to get it done. I had a hard time with them doing it then and I couldn't even look at it until it was healed (seriously, I did ZERO diapers the first week). There is no way I'd be putting a 2-year old through that to cut off some foreskin.

kreeper611 · February 2010

That is a lot to put a kid through. I'm not sure I would do it.

J would have a much harder time that I would, though. Nobody told us that after his circ healed we needed to keep pulling the skin back - so when we did there was all this shmegma (sp?) there. We needed to pull that off and J couldn't do it. It freaked him out and he was afraid it would hurt so I had to be the bad guy. C never blinked an eye.

mom2ll · February 2010

I wouldn't.. However, are you sure that there isn't another reason why they are doing it? I can't even imagine that a doctor would agree to do that for "superficial" reasons. That just makes me sad.

noyoucomehere · February 2010

It's so hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes. We did circ. I was opposed to it but left it in DH's court. We did it when E was 8 days old and the anesthesia didn't work (the doctor told us AFTER the fact that it only works in 75% of cases). It was the most horrible experience and I still carry guilt over doing that to him. DH was livid and would never circ a boy again for any reason.

Kreeper, our pedi told us to leave the foreskin alone while it was heeling. Eventually it came apart on its own. When I read online that you are supposed to pull it back, I did and he screamed so I was very relieved when our pedi said to stop doing that.

As for a 2-year-old, not a chance! It seems ludicrous to go under general anesthesia for something that's not medically necessary. Wait, I'm sure I'll get that tummy tuck some day, so I'm contradicting myself, but a two year old doesn't have a say.

MrsMGR · February 2010

I am not sure what we'd do. I suppose I'd leave it up to DH to decide if he thought it was worth it.

Kreeper, we just recently stopped having to pull the skin back. If we went more than a few days without pulling it back, Joe would scream when we did it....so we just kept doing it once a day until recently.

Katieraye09 · February 2010

I don't think I would do it at the age of 2. Of course, if it were for a health reason (no clue what that would be but you never know) then I would probably re-think my decision. This was in DH's park as well and he was a definitey "yes."

noyoucomehere · February 2010

I was assuming it was not medically necessary. See, that's why it's hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes. And I guess my opinion is skewed b/c of my bad experience. It's another story if it was necessary.

savannah11 · February 2010

If not medically necessary then no. The risks would far outweigh the benefit at that point.

rayskit10 · February 2010

i am not 100% sure (since i didn't ask) but i do not think it was medically necessary for these 2 reasons:

i kind of made an "oh, sorry big guy" comment in his direction when she told me that was what they were there for and she said "well, he'll thank me later..."

and she also told me that the reason they were doing it now was because his adoption was just finalized and he was finally on their insurance, rather than medicaid b/c medicaid wouldn't pay for it. i don't know very much about medicaid benefits but i would assume it would pay for something that was medically necessary for an infant.

do you guys think so?

also, and i hope i don't offend anyone here, but they were a little Kountry, if you kwim (ex: they have a bunch of cozy coupes in the waiting area and they father got really miffed when the boy tried to ride in a pink one and physically took him out and put him in a red one). so i am totally making a judgement here, but i am going to throw out there that they might think a uncirced penis is weird.

almond1123 · February 2010

I can't imagine doing it to a 2yo not only are all the things they need to do to him during the surgery risky but recovery for an older child has got to be harder than with an infant. It just sounds cruel at that age.

noyoucomehere · February 2010

I know someone in Missouri (not sure if Medicaid rules are state or nationwide) that has coverage for anything that's medically necessary. For instance, her son had to have tubes and it was covered. I would hope that coverage for a child would cover anything medically necessary but I do know that my FIL could only get coverage for emergencies though he had tons of health issues where preventive care was crucial for his survival.