Circumcision...

Katietwin · January 2009

No flames please...this is something I never even thought about - I have always assumed it's a given we will have our baby circumcised if it's a boy. ?

But, someone I ran into recently is avidly against, and ?urged me to "do the research" before I "follow the flock". ?In keeping with wanting to be well-informed - I'm wondering...

?Have any of you NOT circumcised your boy babies, and if not...what were your reasons? ?

If you did decide to have the procedure done - what were your reasons FOR? ?

...And please Gals...if at all possible - no soapboxing, preaching, or attempts to convert anyone-- I know the list of websites already. ?I just really want to know for you, personally (Mom to expectant Mom)- what factors entered into your decision that led you to decide the way YOU (and your DH) did. ?

?TIA for sharing your thoughts.

?K?

?

??

?

charmcitygirl · January 2009

For us personally, there was no question that we would do anything but circumsize. We are raising our son Jewish and that is part of the religious tradition. Additionally, we have seen some reseach that indicates that it can cut down on the incidences of STDs. Good luck with your decision.

mrsolsenk12 · January 2009

We have decided to have our son Circumsised. I left the decision up to DH as he is a man and would probably know more about it than I did. DH is circumisised and we would not know how to care for it as well or to teach him to care for it. These are our main reasons for it.

choco_lab · January 2009

I asked my DH and without hestitation he said we would definitely have the baby circumcised. I am going with his wishes since he's a man and has more experience in this area.

AudNicole · January 2009

I briefly considered not circumcising a long time ago. However....

I have a friend in Med School. Part of her rotation was, of course, a Peds observation and a Family Dr. observation. She told me one horrific story of a 7 year old that came in, un circumcised, where the boy constantly had an infection because he just didn't clean it well enough. Both the Peds and family dr told her almost all of their young patients that weren't cut had similar problems.

That was kind of the end of it for me. My son will be circumcised.

(in the spirit of the post, I know this doesn't represent the whole planet or anything, and many guys don't have any problems)

mom2ll · January 2009

we did. However, our reasons changed. They couldn't do it at birth because of an abnormality.. They circumcision actually fixed it.. We waited until 1 month of age and had it done by a pediatric urologist...

hclavalley · January 2009

Ultimately I left the decision up to DH, but we did the research, and talked to every one of my MANY docs(complicated pregnancy), and we decided that we wouldn't circumsize. We decided that unless there was a medically necessary that we wouldn't do it. It was much less important for DS to "match" DH then other reasons.

trinny · January 2009

We are having a girl, but if we had a boy, we would not have circumcized. DH is, but after looking into the research, he agreed there is no good reason to have it done. His main concern was boys making fun of our son in gym class for looking different, which he agreed was not a good reason.

GL with your decision. I felt the same way when looking at whether or not to cloth diaper-- the research is so mixed!

TakYelgif · January 2009

Like the PP I left the decision to my DH to have DS circumcised. He was circumcised and it wasn't nearly as traumatic for DS or me as some folks make it out to be.

DS in fact slept through the entire procedure and never felt a thing because they numbed him up, he never cried when we changed him afterwards etc.

Ultimately it is a person decision to be made by you and your DH.

jenber77 · January 2009

Although DH is circumsized, we have decided NOT to circumsize our son. The government and pediatric organizations have been recommending against routine circumcision for decades, and our public health care system has removed it from the list of covered procedures in most provinces.

The research I have done indicates that it is an unnecessary surgery. The decrease in rates of infection and STDs seems to be very slight, and proper care of the uncircumsized penis seems to be a fairly simple matter. I believe the incidents of the horror stories you hear about older boys and men needing to be circumsized for medical reasons are rare.

talentedgirl · January 2009

DS is circumsized. If it had been up to me alone, I would not have had it done. But DH want him to be circumsized. He did research and talked to our pedi and a couple of friends who are pediatric nurses. Now however, DH says he would not want to willingly submit his child to that procedure and if we are fortunate enough to have another son, he would not do it again. DS is fine, he cried during the procedure but was fine afterwards.

CMM05 · January 2009

We are Jewish, so there was no question.....its a very important part of our religion for the boys to be circumcized. Even if I wasn't Jewish, I would definitely do it just b/c I have many family/friends in the medical (specifically pediatric fields.....) and I have heard too many horror stories of 7-10 year olds needing to be circumcized and I wouldn't want my son to go through that.....

GL!

SeptGirl05 · January 2009

We had a girl, but if she had been a boy we would not have circ'd. Our families are italian and most italian men do not circ (and I've never heard of any of them having an issue with cleanliness, etc.) DH is not circ'd and never had an issue. As for the argument that it cuts down on STDs, I would hope a future son of mine would be using protection to prevent any STDs. I just see no real medical reason for it, and we do not have any religious reasons for it so we would've chosen to not circ. GL with your decision!

Kim777 · January 2009

We did not circ. DH isn't, there were no medical or religious reasons, and we feel very confident that we can clean it properly and teach him to do the same. The STD issue also was not a big one for us because he should be responsible anyway - the risks of not being responsible are too great circ'd or not, so hopefully we can instill in him the importance and hopefully he will make good choices. Honestly, my biggest reservation was my fear that he would be made fun of - and that really bothered me for a while. But not circumcising is becoming more popular and when polls have been done on our local board the boys born in the last couple of years are basically split right down the middle, so I don't think that is as big of a concern as I had initially made it out to be.

totalpanic · January 2009

if you do decide to circ, request a subcutaneous ring block - or at least ask your doc about it

supposed to be less painful

Aimee0289 · January 2009

I am very against circumcising our son, but I left the decision up to my husband, and apparently it's a big deal for him. So I am fairly certain we'll be having it done, unfortunately.

lanielove · January 2009

Around 1995, I had a class in college which discussed caring for an uncircumcized penis. The process involved creeped me out a little back then, so I was pro-circumcision.

Now, I'm a nurse (and not creeped out by the cleaning process). I'm actually an O.R. nurse - and I have seen MANDATORY required surgeries to repair uncircumcized penises which have developed infections, or other issues (bleeding, cracking, etc.). From a medical perspective, the percentage of uncircumcized men needing to have an adult circumcision is relatively small (about 10% if my docs are right). But - because the penis has been shielded its whole life, the newly circumcized penis is VERY painful and sore for an extended period of time. Those nerve ending are RAW. That breaks my heart. So, I'm still pro-circ to prevent later complications.

Also, DH is more comfortable if we circumcize our child, so I absolutely gave him a vote.

julandjo · January 2009

We chose not to circumcise DS. DH is circ'd, so it was very foreign to him to consider not doing it. But we did research, spoke with several doctors, and agreed to not do it. DS has been perfectly fine so far, and cleaning it isn't a big deal at all.

jooliagoolia2 · January 2009

We did not circumcise DS. ?We're not Jewish, and BOTH our pedi and our OB recommended against it. ?It's unnecessary and DS will have to be taught good hygiene anyway. ?And the decreased risk of STDs is slight and I'd rather DS learn safe sex anyway. ?Our doctors said that the split is 60%circ/40% not in schools these days, so the locker room shouldn't be a big deal. ?

?

But at the end of the day, we just couldn't put him through any kind of genital surgery so early on in his life. ?We didn't see a reason to, and just because wasn't good enough. ?And yesterday friends of ours told us a story about friends of theirs whose son was circ and had a serious reaction that is very rare and required more surgery (and thankfully it's fine now). ??

Katietwin · January 2009

I so appreciate all of your thoughts, and both perspectves. Actually - the group was much more split than I'd figured it would be, and all for excellent reasons. ?

I plan to continue reading and talking about it with DH, and our Doctors.

The very least I can do if I'm going to decide what our little boy (if that's what it turns out I'm carrying) is going to look/be like for his enire life down there, is make sure our decision is well-informed either way.

?Thanks again!!!

?

Katie?

somethingchangd · January 2009

I'm coming to the discussion late but thought I would put in my $.02 anyway. We will not be circumcising our son. To me it is an unnecessary surgical procedure - cosmetic surgery - which I don't feel the need to do. Learning how to properly care for it is not a concern of mine and considering the number of healthy uncirc'd men across Europe, I think most of the other concerns about intact penises are probably untrue. DH isn't circ'd and although that's not a factor as to why we're making this decision, it does help show me that it's not unhealthy or problematic. I've also heard that men with intact penises have better sexual experiences. I know it's strange for a mother to think about that when considering her unborn child, but who am I to take that away?

It's definitely a personal decision and I would never try to sway someone one way or the other. Good luck making the right choice for you.

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