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October 2015 Moms
brihanna145
member
Circumcision? Do or don't
brihanna145
member
im not sure if I should get my son circumcised or not! Opinions please
Re: Circumcision? Do or don't
https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12599870/to-circumcise-not-to-not-thoughts/p1
This will be a very insightful and factual podcast regarding the topic!
Just to clarify the statistics regarding the drop in circumcision rate in our country, it is highly attributed to the rise in the hispanic population in our country over the last several years. (Hispanic people do not generally circumcise.)
I think the increase of a population who do not generally circumcise is one factor, but also the fact that many parents have shifted their attitude toward circumcision overall. It used to be what everyone did, so most boys were circumcised.
I'm curious about the correlation between the demographics of the West Coast, where circumcision rates are lowest and the Midwest, where they are the highest. I'd venture a guess that more highly educated and politically liberal or non-traditional families circumcise at lower rates.
It seems that it is a combination of things. The west coast has the highest population of immigrants from countries that don't circumcise, plus a more liberal outlook overall, but also Medicaid in many of the states on the west coast no longer covers circumcision.
Here's a good article: https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/circumcision-rates-in-u-s-drop-drastically-in-western-states/?_r=0
But other factors aside, it is an elective procedure
Oh and "our country" I'm pretty sure looking into your back ground you were not always in this country it's built on immigrants.
Here are just a couple supporting articles. If you google "hispanics and circumcision rate" you will find more.
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(14)00036-6/abstract
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/circumcision-rates-declining-health-risks-rising-study-says/
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/circumcision-rate-falls-despite-health-risks-n69891
And a quote:
"Some parents have opposed what they call an inhumane practice, but much of the drop in circumcision in the U.S. may be due to the influx of immigrants who culturally are opposed to circumcision. "The burgeoning Hispanic population in the West accounts for most of the decrease in national prevalence," the researchers reported."
Sorry for all the emphasis. Again, I certainly do not believe this is the ONLY factor to a declining circumcision rate, but a part. Please don't go around accusing me of racism or something similar; that is clearly not the case here.
I replied not good enough. I'm not altering my child's body without his consent over "just, um, yeah, cause..." Come up with an actual reason supported by research and we'll talk.
I did show him some different research and a funny Adam Ruins Everything video and now his on my side. He has just never thought about it before.
He did try the line of reason about our son looking like the other boys in the locker room, to which I pointed out that just amongst my close friends at least half of the little boys were not circumcised and that if half the little boys I know, right now, weren't that meant our son would "look like" half his peers. And these are just the kids I personally know.
I also asked around some of my "popular" girlfriends about what they've noticed in the men they've been "popular" with and depending on where they live some of them said the vast majority of men they've slept with have been uncircumcised.
I guess you just keep showing your husband the statistics?
I told him to do some research and come up with a better reason other than "I don't want him to look different ". Of course he didn't do it. One of the Pediatricians we interviewed, whom as been in practice for 35 years and is listed as one of the top Pediatricians in our area, said he does not like doing the procedure and said it is medically unnecessary. I think this helped my baby's father see the other side but I know it's going to be an issue. The Pediatrician did tell us that it doesn't need to be done at birth and that it's better to wait a couple weeks. He said it can make breastfeeding more difficult if you do it right after birth. I just hope that once he meets our little guy that he won't want to do anything to cause him unnecessary pain.
If your hubby is anything like my hubby you could just keep putting it off and putting it off... Cause my husband would never work up the initiative to go have it done on his own. I'll be in charge of taking baby to his appointments so it would be easy for me to avoid having it done
I'm super direct and sassy though and I just flat out told my husband where he could stick his dumb knee jerk ideas, but I realize that tactic won't work in every relationship.
I pasted below the research and conclusion I came to (we are choosing not to circumcise), but still support that it's totally a parent's choice and I don't think they'll be mentally traumatized by whatever decision you make.
https://littlerebelbase.blogspot.com/2015/06/circumcision.html
I'll be honest, I always wanted a little girl, and so I never really thought circumcision was a decision that i would have to make.
My first gut reaction was it just seems cleaner and easier to circumcise. An extra skin flap SOUNDS like it would be dirty, right? And almost everyone I know is circumcised, we must do it for a reason. Then I found out the REAL reason we circumcise (Circumcision took off because it was believed it would curb masturbation. Obviously, that mission failed epically, but the cycle of "his should look like mine" kept going and Americans kept circumcising their babies.) and decided i really owed it to my kid to do my research and make an informed decision that goes beyond "everyone else does it."
There are plenty of articles circulating about all the sensitive nerves in the foreskin and how so much sensitivity is lost by circumcising. While no one i know can attest to the experience of BOTH situations, I asked my husband if he felt like he'd been robbed of something, and he said no. Some friends said they wish the choice had been theirs, but most circumcised men said they were happy with their bodies and pro-circumcision.
Care: A big selfish part of me kept picturing a blowout diaper all up in foreskin. Knowing that i have to care for it, that just sounded so gross and like so much extra work. And so I read A LOT of articles, and i talked to a lot of people. One of my co-workers has 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys. Her husband is latino and uncircumcised (circumcision is not a part of hispanic culture and i asked several hispanic men as well) but she, like me, did all the research when her sons were born. When I asked if it's messier she said, hands down a girl is the worst to clean. Baby foreskin doesn't retract, it's basically fused together so stuff doesn't go inside. She also said "little boys love to play with themselves, so when they're in the tub you tell them to clean their willy and they do".
I am going to link some articles below- both for and against circumcision- but mainly i'm going to put some factoids that influenced our decision not to circumcise. We aren't anti-circumcision, sometimes it is medically necessary (King Louis' was medically necessary and therefore made it fashionable!), and there's always a possibility that our son could need circumcised later on (though we hope if it does become necessary, he will still be very young). For now, we will not be having our son circumcised when he's born.
Just as a side note, I was actually discussing this with a friend yesterday and she described her vagina as looking like 'a cauliflower that had been run over by a bus' . She didn't show me thank God!!!!
To the OP we are not circumcising our boy. My oldest is and I regret it, not because hit was done improperly but because I made that decision for him and I feel terrible for doing it because that's what his dad wanted. I want this baby to be able to make that choice on his own.