Circumcising - Beverly Hills,CA

There is a significant decrease in the risk of genital papilloma virus (warts) with circumcision and for some groups of female partners (monogamous with previous high risk behavior) a decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer. DS was circumcised because we are Jewish.

The responder who stated that more babies die of circumcision than SIDS is just completely wrong. The 'statistics' at the link shown are completely fabricated.

Google it. Read about the historical/religious/medical reasons for it. Learn about the pros and the cons. And then make a decision. I did. And opted against it. My son is now 15. He has never had any problems.

There is no medical reason to get him circumcised, only religious and appearance reasons. About half of American boys are being circumcised these days, so if it's a matter of all looking the same in the locker room, well, it'll be about half and half. It's really just a matter of personal preference, but I would leave him alone.

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It's his body, and it should be his choice.

The way I see it, there's no pressing medical reason to have a newborn circumcised. If I choose to leave him intact, I leave that choice to him to make when he's an adult and can have proper pain control. Circumcision is irreversible, and I think it's wrong to choose an elective cosmetic procedure for an individual when it could be postponed for them to make for themselves.

I was also faced with this decision. My family (American) is very strongly opinionated that he should have had it done, but my husband's family (Mexican) is very opposed to it and finds it useless. The majority of Mexican men do not have it done and it's not even offered in the hospital, you need to ask for it as an extra. My mom, being a nurse, is worried that it will mean infections in the future. But I have told my husband that since it was basically his choice to not do it, he will need to teach our son how to clean it well when he is older. I say give the kid the choice in the future if he wants it for cosmetic reasons, but really there is no medical need.

It is a choice your son can make when he is an adult.
Of course it hurts at any age. And, the reason that a lot of fathers give is that they want the boy to 'look' like the father is silly. What father and son look at each other when they are adults?

Good luck with whichever choice you make.

You will get strong responses on both reactions to this question. I am very pro-circumcising. In nursing school I remember my instructor telling us about how she elected not to circumcise her son and around age 10 he had such bad infections that he had to have it done. It hurts a lot less when they are newborns then when they are older. And I had heard girlfriends making fun of guys that didn't have it done--just saying. As an nurse in the newborn unit and NICU, I assisted with many circumcisions. I can say that if your doctor uses a pain gel like lidocaine, it really is not bad, kind of like ripping off a band aid. It is over and done with very quickly. Some docs were cruel and didn't believe the babies felt pain and refused to give any pain meds, and those babies did feel it. So if you do it, make sure your doc believes in pain medicine and get it done soon--the older they get the worse it is.

i'm so simple minded....i had my sweet little boy circumsized (sp) a day or two after birth, but there was no medical/religious reasons at all. simply for his future sex life. sorry. that's how i feel/felt about it! i've been w/a guy who wasn't circumsized & it grossed me out, so i was just like, hey, let's get this done now! no disrespect to people who do it for cultural/religious reasons, but seriously that was my only reason to do it. there was no reason NOT to do it either, other than the pain, of course. sorry, my sweet little boy... :)

I suggest that you RESEARCH!

The doctors don't even suggest it anymore. There is no medical reason for it. A lot of insurance companies won't even cover it any more.......

We opted out with our 2 boys and are VERY glad we did.......

It's a personal choice that should be made by you and your husband. If you do not have a strong opinion for or against, then let your husband decide.

Personally, I would have him circumcised, but I would request that something be used for pain. There is no reason your son should be in any unnecessary pain when it is so simple to numb the area first.

And if you have it done, younger is better. When my son was born the doctor told me most circumcisions are done before the age of 2 weeks, usually within the first 8 days after birth.

Don't cut a piece of your baby off. It is not needed and it is cruel. This is purely a cosmetic procedure. More babies die in this country from complications related to circumcision than they do from SIDS. Your husband needs to educate himself. Go to www.nocirc.org.

Lisa

It's really a question of personal preference. I had my son circumcised, but if other moms don't, then that is ok too. I would lean toward your husband rather than your mother. After all, your husband is the baby's father, so his opinion should hold more weight than the grandmother's opinion. If you do get it done, the earlier the better.

My one nephew had it done, but it was a botch job and you can't even tell. My other nephew had it done and it was a text book case and he turned out "perfectly". Alot of societies have it done for religious purposes. Others have it done for hygenic reasons. Is there a medical need? Are you able to clean him properly without having it done? If your hubby is saying it's best, perhaps you should side with him; afterall, he does have the equipment himself. You should make the decision sooner rather than later, since the older he gets, the more it will hurt.

i believe your mother has no opinion in the matter (sorry to be harsh). this is a decision between you and your husband. we circumcised our son about 3-4 days after birth. i have to leave the room when it happened. hard emotionally because you are inflicting pain, but its quick, and i'm really glad we did it. just my 2 cents. don't wait too long. do it super young or not at all.

Hi D.

There is no medical reason to have him circumcised. I can't remember offhand but I remember doing research about the cervical cancer thing and it is unfounded. There are OTHER reasons that incidences of cervical cancer are lower in Jewish women.

There is a lot of information available to you on why not to circumcise, and a number of reputable sites and organizations who advocate against it, or rather advocate FOR leaving your son intact.

Check out www.drmomma.org which has links to a number of these sites. You can also check out the Peaceful Parenting page/group on Facebook if you are a member. Have your husband read them too.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this important decision and for not just rushing into it. There is a reason circumcision rates are dropping, as parents become more informed. I believe we all do the very best we can with the information we have. I chose not to circumcise my son because I thought "if I can't even bear READING about the procedure, how I can I make my son go through it?" Since then the research I've done about it has made me so very glad I didn't do it. But there is no judgement on parents who have done it who thought they were doing the right thing and were told they were doing so, possibly by well-meaning folks. But it's important to do your own research - this is a pretty significant procedure.

Btw, my husband is circumcised - he felt the same way as me. I don't think it's going to be an issue if DS thinks he looks 'different' than his daddy one day. Very easy explanations. Plus, don't little boy penises look different from adult penises anyway? :)

Best of luck to you .

http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/are-you-fully-informed.html

I will not give you my personal opinions, instead I encourage you to research. Check out this link as a good resource with lots of suggestions. Educate yourself and you will always be confident that you made the right decision; Only listen to others and you will potentially doubt your choice because it won't have been an informed one. Don't be afraid of the pleathora of information. Just start reading and you will find the right answer. Good luck.

My first two boys were circumsiced, and my third will be as well when he is born (unless there is a medical reason not to--my husband wasn't until he was 2 because of hypospadias and needing surgery once he was more developed). Typically, your obstetrician will check with you in the hospital because they do the procedure before releasing you. We had to wait until the boys had had a normal wet diaper after the surgery, and both of them went through normal healing processes. They did not seem to have any discomfort from the circumcision, and I am personally inclined toward it for health, aesthetic, and cultural reasons combined. If I did not firmly believe that it is medically beneficial, I might not be as strongly in favor of it.

In your situation, you should check with your pediatrician. I'm not sure what the procedure is if you have waited to have it done, and your insurance might not cover it if you wait.

There is no right or wrong answer here. You do what you and your husand think is best. I researched circumcision and did a LOT of reading about it. they did a whole section of Science magazine on it and those articles were some of the many we ready. We decided against it but it was easy bc my husband made the same decision (also, he is not circumcised). I think really either way is fine. We just decided to go with the way nature made our bodies and that was what was best for us.

1st of all, you and your husband need to make this decision. Leave your mother out of it. Trust me, your marriage does not need you mother in it.

Thoughts are mixed on circumcision. I did it, I don't regret it. But, I don't know that I'd make the same decision today. Some people have problems, and need it, most don't. It can always be done later. The pediatrician, or the OB/GYN can do it.

By the time he will be in high school the ratio of cir vs non will be about equal so there wont be any of that embarrassment like a previous poster mentioned that there will be.
The number one reason why I didn't was because of money. I didn't have an extra $300 to get it done. I did research on it and I was down the middle. Money was the deciding factor. So I would suggest to you is to do more research for yourself and then also find out if your insurance covers it.
If you do, do it. Get it done ASAP!

We did with both of ours because my husband is. My oldest's was done the morning after he was born.
My youngest's was done as his 3 day old Dr. visit. My 2nd was not born in the hospital I was planning on, therefore his Ped. was not there. I really wanted his Ped. to do it because the Dr. at the hospital used a different method. I wanted to make sure that my boys would look the same.
It is a personal choice and some people feel very stongly about it. I didn't really care either way, so I let my husband decide.

No adult male is going to choose to be circumcised, unless he is converting to a religion and has really deep conviction, or unless it becomes medically necessary for some reason.

So, you can choose to have it done now, or not.

A lot of the medical advice to do so (for health reasons) has been called into question, but I don't know if that controversy has been definitively answered yet.

So, you may have to look at it as a cultural/religious choice.

The pain of it is very fleeting for the baby now. For a baby, it is over very fast and heals very quickly. It is, however a medical procedure, so it shouldn't just be done without thought.

As a adult, however, it's supposed to be excruciating.

My oldest and youngest sons were done in the hospital. My middle son needed heart surgery right away, so the circ had to wait. We did his circ at one year. If it is not done in the hospital (at birth), your insurance coverage may be different. It sounds like you've already taken your son home. If it's not done right away, a urologist will then have to do it (in the hospital a pediatrician can do it). And, it may require anesthesia. My middle son's circ was performed under anesthesia by a urologist at a Children's Hospital.

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We did not circumcise our son. I and my husband (who is circumcised) consider it mutilation. If your son could choose, do you think he would opt for it? I doubt it. Why don't you leave it up to him? When he is old enough to make the decision for himself he can. but if you make it for him now he won't have that choice.
I'm not sure why your husband is for it. There is no evidence that it is more sanitary as was once believed.
Good luck to you. Be your beautiful baby boy's advocate since he can't advocate for himself yet.

I'm up in the air on this one. I don't know what I would do if I had a baby boy. I've never had anyone give me a good medical reason to do it, and like others have said, it's only about half and half in this country now anyway.
And some of the other posters are incorrect - it is not too late should you choose to get him circumcised. You can be circumcised at any age.

i would do it. i think that it is better to do and he will not remember a think at all if you do it now. If he is involved in sports and is changing in the locker room other guys that are and he is not may make fun of him because of him being different and if he has sex the women may be turned off by it which could make him self conscious

I recently asked the same question on this board and got some great information. See here:
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/15873141363299188737

We fully intended to circumcise our son, but he is a twin, was a preemie, and spent some time in the NICU. The day he was released, my OB was not able to get to the hospital in time, so it wasn't done. We called the urologist who was recommended to us, and he won't do it until our son is 2 or 3 years old, in the hospital, under general anesthesia. That was the deciding factor. Even though my husband is, our son is not and will stay that way unless he chooses to have it done later.

BTW, prior to giving birth, a nurse asked if we were planning to circumcise and I said yes. She put down her pen, turned to me and said, "Make sure they give him anesthesia...it is painful and should not be done without it."

Listen to your husband, he will be the one answering questions... That being said, it is totally traumatizing for the parents. With my son, my husband took one look and told me I would have to change all diapers until it was healed up. It looks so totally terrible. He was pushing for it too! but it is up to you both. do the research and know that if you do, it can look really terrible, but my son has had no ill effects and we are happy we had it done...
Good luck!
R.

We had my son circumcized when he was 3 days old.
***He slept through it.***
Every man I know is circumcized. So we did it because, to me, that's what's familiar.

I just don't feel that passionately about this topic as others do. It still functions the same way, skin or no skin.

You will hear for both sides of the argument. If your husband feels strongly for it, then do it. I asked my husband a month ago about circumcised vs uncircumcised. He says the circumcised is so much easier to clean, and he is beyond happy that his parents had it done when he was born. Both of our boys are, and my husband can't imagine them any other way.

I would say that since you already left the hospital that it seems a bit late. Of course you can take them at a later date but if it was me I would have had it done in the hospital right after he was born.

You could probably not do it and be okay, however,
my nephew was not circumcised at birth and he had to have it done at 5 years old due to infections. My other nephew had the same problem and was circumcised at 10 years old. I learned in my college health class that the 8th day after a baby is born he has the highest pain tolerance (which happens to be the day that God instructed the Israelites to circumcise their males.)

There is no medical reason for circumcision. That being said it is done normally for religous practices. We were going to get our son circumcised but deceided against it at the last minute because of all the trauma he was going through with getting shots and other things at the hospital. Okay we were more upset about it then he was, he is also our first child. There is nothing wrong with not getting it done. It is up to you, as far as being made fun of by the other boys in the locker room, who is gonna be standing that close to see it?

As far as sexually transmitted diseases go, I think that it's insane to think that they are at more risk if they are not circumcised, if you don't wear a condom, everyone is at risk.

Circumcisiondecisionmaker.com
Not nearly as many circumcisions are happening now compared with 20-30 years ago. Become educated about it and its likely you will side with your mom. Its not a necessary procedure, its a cosmetic one. Why put your son through an unnecessary, barbaric procedure which could have disastrous problems?

Either do it or don't, but the sooner, the better if you're going to do it.
There was no question my son would have it done. He doesn't remember it at all. He is 15 and glad we made the choice we did.
It's a personal decision, but I think the longer you wait, the harder it will be.

Just my opinion.

I vote yes. I had my son done and he only cried for a minute. I think it is easier done than not.

This is a personal decision and really your mother doesn't have a say. When we found out that we were having a boy, I did a ton of research and my husband did a fair amount(my mother thru her two cents in but it went in one ear and out the other). Ultimately, I left the decision up to my husband. I am glad that we decided the route that we did-we didn't circumcise.

If you all are hesitating, don't do it just "because". If you decide to have it done, they can do it while you all are in the hospital, or you can elect to do it at your pediatrician's office.