So...what is the story with the white gunk/debris that gathers around the base of the head of the penis? Where the head meets the more wrinkly skin? My SIL said her boys had it and my DH says he even has memories of gunk gathering there when he was really young, so I am not worried about it. But what are you supposed to do? Generally, my penis philosophy is to leave it alone, so I only clean it out when it looks like it is starting to fall off or come out on its own. But last night at bath time when I took off a small bit of it, I noticed one part of that area was pretty red. It looks much better this morning (barely red at all), but it made me wonder if I have been handling it correctly. DS doesn't have a well visit scheduled for another week or so. I will ask then but thought I would see what you all had to say now.
Please don't tell me my baby is the only one with penis gunk... I am so clueless when it comes to these things.
Re: Moms of circ'd boys, come in
The technical term is smegma...if you want to do some icky googling
(sorry...one hand only right now)
When he was younger I tried to regularly pull back the skin and clean the "white stuff" with baths or diaper changes. Now that he's older he doesn't get it as much but I still try to make sure I clean it once a week or so (he won't let me touch it without a big to-do).
Very normal but needs to be cleaned. My nephew's circ actually grew back a little b/c my SIL didn't regularly pull back the skin.
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DS has this gunk too. When I change his diaper I pull the skin back and wipe the gunk away with a wipe. I'm not sure if I was supposed to leave it there
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We just went to his 9 month well check and the NP said he had an adhesion and pulled the skin back to where it should be. So I guess I wan't pulling it back far enough? She said it's common and to pull the skin back and wipe the area at diaper changes and bath time.
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This made me giggle.
One of my freinds' DS had his skin grow back a bit and the doc had to pull it back (aka unattach it) in the office. This friend put the fear of God in me when we had Conor about penis care. I pulled Conor's back once a day before or after bath time. My friend told me to do this until he's 1. I think I did it until he about 2ish.
He did have that white stuff - I cleaned it off when I saw it. If I remember correctly, my pedi told me that white stuff was the skin trying to reform (re-attach) and to pull it back or wipe it off.
Penis' are weird.
Ugh - me too! Now I guess I have check out DS's tonight.
Gently pull it back and clean it. I didnt know I was supposed to do that and when Brady was a baby he developed a little puss filled blister down there. The pedi cleaned it right up and said it was no big deal, but it can get uncomfortable if not cleaned.
The pedi also told me that the white stuff was old skin cells that get caught in there and build up.
You should pull the skin back and clean it gently at every diaper change. It's not just dead skin cells and such, fuzz, and all kinds of other crap can get in there and irritate the skin. Circ'ed penises are completely different than intact penises (of course you'd never pull the skin back on an intact one and clean it like this). However, a circumcised penis is not protected the way a circ'ed one is and needs to be cleaned regularly. And, the foreskin needs to be pulled back regularly to keep it from reattaching and forming adhesions.
ETA: and just to clarify, this is all a quick and gentle action. I don't mean force it back and scrub it down or anything... Just a gentle push back and quick wipe with a baby wipe, takes 2 seconds and there's no reason for it not to be part of the regular diaper change routine.
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Agreed. Both of my boys' reahered even with us pulling the skin back during baths. They're pretty good now, but we still pull it back gently during every bath and clean it.
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Um, how did I miss Penis 101?! Was this a pedi/hospital mistake because he is my second child? Seriously, no one ever discussed penis care with me, outside the initial care for the circumcision wound. Once it was all healed, there was no more talk of penis maintenance. Sigh.
Will be cleaning out the gunk (smegma, as a word, just makes it more gross) regularly! Thanks!!!
Because we're fancy like that.
you need to pull back the penis and clean it daily - or it builds up. the chunkier your boy- the more you'll need to pull back b/c the fat pads behind the penis push it all forward (sometimes makes it look like there is hardly a penis... 2 of my boys were like this their first 2 years, then thinned out and are normal now, lol)