Name Here
I'm having a boy, 20w5d pregnant. Since we found out we were expecting, and even before, my husband mentioned he wanted to circumcise the baby if it was a boy. He too was circumcised when he was born. For the mothers who have also chosen to do this, how is the healing taken cared of? Are you supposed to follow instructions after being discharged from the hospital or what? I do plan on discussing this with my doctor at my next appointment but just want to see what other moms think. Thanks :)
Answer
Please don't circumcise your baby boy. Routine infant circumcision is not recommended by *any* medical association anywhere in the world -- in fact, most associations, such as Canada's, explicitly recommend against it because the risks outweigh the negligible "benefits".
There is no reason to circumcise your son just because your husband is. The penis of a grown man and a baby boy do NOT look alike even if they are both circumcised. Ask your husband if he cares or even knows what his own father's circumcision status is.
Let your son look like *him*...he shouldn't have to "be" his father. If your husband likes being circumcised, good, great for him. But your son may not like it.
I recommend you do some thorough research on this topic. These days in the USA, only about 30-40% of baby boys are circumcised. In all other first-world countries, the rates are even lower than that. Circumcision is unnecessary, not supported by any medical benefit, carries the risk of complications, and is painful. The foreskin is a healthy, normal body part with tons of important functions. In over 99.9% of cases, there is no medical indication that the foreskin of a baby be removed. This therefore makes circumcision a cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgeries should be chosen by the *owner* of the body...operating on someone else without their consent is unethical and a human rights violation. Respect your son's rights to bodily integrity, just as you would if he were a girl.
These sites are informative:
http://www.geocities.com/painfulquestioning/unnatural - how a circumcision is done (also, watch a video)
http://www.catholicsagainstcircumcision.org/cac_complications.htm - possible complications from circumcision
http://www.cirp.org/pages/parents/lostlist/ - what circumcision removes from a man
http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/cut-vs-intact-outcome-statistics.html - comparison between circumcised and intact baby boys
http://www.circumstitions.com/Itsaboy.html - general info
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=112410 - mothers of circumcised boys talk about how they regret circumcising their sons
To answer your question.
Caring for a circumcised baby boy is more difficult than caring for an intact baby boy. For a circumcised boy, you need to apply vaseline until it's healed, and even after it's healed you need to continually pull back the remnant skin to prevent skin bridges from forming. For an intact baby boy, the foreskin is fused to the penis, so you don't do...anything. At all.
@ ilovemydaughter
I've looked into that, and it still doesn't seem like a good reason for infant circumcision. First off, only a small percentage of people ever end up nursing homes. Of those, even a smaller percentage will ever get a penile infection. It is more likely that a baby boy will get a complication from his circumcision, than to get an infection 60 years down the road from being unable to wash his penis. Also...amputating a normal body part to treat an infection that hasn't even OCCURRED yet (and most likely never will) is medical quackery.
I actually have a friend who works in a nursing home. She says that genital infections are a LOT more common in female patients - but we don't consider removing our daughter's inner labia to prevent infections! In male patients, infections occur whether the man is circumcised or not.
I'd blame the infections on the caregivers who aren't doing their job cleaning their patients.
Of course it's "not pretty"...infections in general aren't pretty. Ear infections, eye infections, whatever. But we don't cut off all of those body parts.
@ Julie - The foreskin on a young boy should never be retracted. It sounds like your son's foreskin was being retracted, which is why he had problems.
what is the purpose of circumcising baby boys?
Ali
I'm having my little man in March, and people I know have had their boys circumcised and I hear about it on tv and etc. I really thought it was something you're suppose to do. But now I'm hearing that a lot of people actually don't have their babies circumcised.
So what is the purpose of getting your baby boy circumcised? Pros? cons?
Thanks.
Answer Congrats on the pregnancy. Yes, about half of baby boys in the USA are not being circumcised, and the rate of circumcision is declining. Actually, the USA is the only country in the world that still routinely circumcises for non-religious reasons!
It's not something you're "supposed" to do. You're not "supposed" to slice off 20,000 erogenous nerve endings off of someone else's genitals. When you think of it that way, doesn't it seem a little barbaric?
There are no benefits from circumcision. There are lots of myths surrounding circumcision, and it's those myths that parents fall for. Parents who circumcised their sons usually do it for this reason: It's cleaner/to prevent infections. That's absolute BS! 85% of men worldwide are UNcircumcised and they are doing just fine when it comes to genital cleanliness. Would you circumcise your daughter so her genitals are cleaner? No. I would prefer to teach my child good HYGIENE than cut off a part of his body. Circumcised or not, a man has to clean his penis. Not to mention, we don't remove our child's teeth so he doesn't have to brush them, shave off his hair so he doesn't have to comb it, etc. No, we teach them hygiene, and genital hygiene can be taught as well. An intact penis is NOT difficult to clean whatsoever. The intact penis of a baby boy is also extremely easy to care for - the foreskin does not retract yet at that age so you just wipe it like it's a finger, while on a circumcised boy you have a fresh wound to take care of.
I recommend not circumcising, as it's unnecessary. Our babies are born with no "extra" parts; the foreskin is a very functional and natural part of the penis. Why remove a healthy, functional part of your son's body when there's no reason to, and when doing so is extremely painful? Circumcision can also cause many complications, and every year in the States boys both lose their penis from it and die from it.
BUT there is one main thing you need to think about here - whose body it is. HIS. It's HIS body, HE'S the one who has to use his penis for the rest of his life. Since it's his body, it should be his decision. It's ridiculous to FORCE an unneeded surgery on someone else's body. That's violating his right to a whole body. I know so many guys that resent their parents for getting them circumcised. Think about it this way -- if you leave your so
