I am due in 5 weeks with a little boy. I know we will have him circumsized. With having a daughter the first time, I really don't know what procedure is the best. A friend of mine had her son circumsized and the doctor messed up and now he has to have a 2nd surgery to correct the problem.
Any recommendations on the process of how he should be circumsized?
Also, please no negative feedback about my decision on having my son circumsized. We all have our opinions, good or bad.
Thanks in advance.
Both my boys were done within a couple days of birth by my OB. Both looked like they had too much skin but by the time they were five or so it looked just fine. Ahh the aesthetics of penises. :p
After they do it it does look bad but really neither of my boys gave any indication they were bothered by it. Healed a lot quicker than their cord stump.
Perhaps you can ask what your child's pediatrician recommends.
My Ob/GYN circumsized our son with no problems whatsoever. We were told to apply vaseline to the front of his diaper to avoid it sticking to the diaper. It healed very quickly.
Our pediatrician does circumcisions at around 1 week after birth, she prefers to have breastfeeding well-established before doing the procedure. I have 2 sons and we had no problems with either one.
I would go with the good old fashioned method that takes a week or so to heel because I have heard of 'problems' with the new method that is suppose to heal right away.
With any procedure there are always stories of things not working or having problems, but try and look at the number of successful procedures performed and know that since you have made you decision that he will do great!
We just put the gauze and the vasoline on there for about 4-5 days after he was home and everything was fine :)
congrats on the little man!! Boys are so different from girls- this will be fun for you (at least IMO)
Both of my sons were done with the plastibell. Both healed just fine. Like another mama said--they do look like there is a lot of extra skin afterwards. They do grow into them though. So, there's obviously supposed to be a lot of excess. My older son who is 4--his is starting to grow into it. He still has plenty of room though. LOL! Be sure to pull down on the excess skin when changing his diaper after his circumcision is healed. I didn't do that with my older son and his doctor had to pull the skin apart that had grown back together. Needless to say, I had a screaming baby boy on my hands. Good luck!
My first had an incision by our pediatrician, my second had the plastibell. I personally prefer the incision bc the plastibell just looks awful! But both of my sons did fine. The key is to keep it clean and follow any instructions they give you when you leave. After the circ heals, just gently pull the skin back each time you clean him after a diaper change and in the bath, you will likely have zero problem regardless of the type of procedure. Congrats!
I didn't realize there were different procedures. Once it's done and healed, once a day pull the skin of the head away from the shaft. One of our boys had it reattach and heal funny so it had to be recut in the pediatrician's office.
My girlfriend had all 3 of her boys done with the plastibell, all of hers just don't look "right" more skin or something. Both of mine had the incision, both my kids had a lot of redunant skin. My first needed his recir'd, I think it was partly my fault tho' for not knowing about having to retract once the incision was healed. His skin tried to just heal back to the way it was before. My youngest has a lot a skin, there is a slight adhesion, but nothing that won't take care of itself in the next year. Personally I saw my friend's boys with the plastibell it just looked so painful and not something I would want to see change after change the next few days. My kids it looked painful, but nothing like hers.
Good luck!
I don't have the technical terms for you, but I guess there are two ways of going about it: the quick way and the longer way. My OB only knew the quick way; before my son was born I heard horror stories about how so many of her circs had had to be repaired. So, I posted a question here- someone recommended another OB who is also a Jewish Mohel. (I hope I spelled that right:) When we took our son to him on the eighth day after birth (we had intended to to avoid the Vit. K shot) He told us that he knew both ways of doing the procedure, but the shape of our son's penie was wrong for the quick way. He performed it the longer way and we have never had any issues. Dr. Neil Smith is the OBGYN for Hackettstown Midwives in Hackettstown NJ. They have a website and a phone number. I know you are in KS, but you can call the office (they are so nice) and get the info and the real terminology straight from the Doc or his nurse.
BTW I am expecting boy #2 in Jan and I have no reservations about doing it again.
Hope this helps!
Oh! Also try posting the question: Great doc for Circumcision near Shawnee, KS. Or wherever. That's how I found my doc. Take a look at my old question from 2 years ago. You don't need to be Jewish to take your son somewhere else for circumcision. Ins. will still usually cover it.
My advice is to seek out a highly recommended pediatrician. My ob/gyn did my son's a couple of days after his birth while we were still in the hospital, but I wish I was smart enough to have the pediatrician do it since he was the one caring for my baby following delivery. In fact, I go to a great pediatric office with a handful of wonderful doctors, but one is known as the circumcision king because he does the surgery perfect. I bet you can find someone like him.
Just as an FYI - a messed up circumsicion is more common than you think. My sons was one of them, and the plentiful doctors we took him to see afterwards for the most part said "Sure, it looks bad-but so does about 50% of the circumsicions done today, so he'll fit right in!".
Great, that really comforted.
So, I applaud you for checking this out ahead of time to get it done right.
My son had the "stressed out gyno on call that just wanted to go home" do it- not recommended.
Best of luck!
I must have had the traditional procedure done for my boys (at St. John's in St. Louis) because I never knew there were other procedures out there. My twins healed in a week and everything went great. My sister told me that she had heard that early on, boys don't have as much feeling down there (within the first two weeks) and maybe that's why some of the Jewish traditions is to have it done when they're 8 days old. I could be wrong in what I heard but I did attend a Bris (spelling?) where a Rabbi does it and I was surprised that the baby only cried for about 30 seconds and that was that.
Lucky you for getting the option with your OB! Our first son was circumcised by plastibell, and it was an absolute breeze...no messy vaseline/gauze to deal with and know visible blood/swelling. Our second son was with a different OB and she didn't use the plastibell, she preferred traditional circumcision. I think it took longer to heal, we had to treat it with vaseline and gauze at every diaper change, it looked a lot more swollen and bloody and we had issues with re-adhering. So, my preference is for the plastibell, but both in the end turned out fine.
My son had the plastibel. I have worked for doctors that have done both procedures. Personally I prefer the plastibel, there is not really anything to worry about after the procedure. No vaseline, no worry about the diaper sticking. Other than this both procedures are fine. You might ask your pediatrician because not all of them will do both procedures. The office I worked in previously had 3 doctors, 2 of them did the plastibel and 1 did the gomco, just a personal preferance.
My story is almost exactly like JC's. My OB did it. No problems what-so-ever. I was under the impression that the OB always did it, but talk to your ped. I'm sure he/she will be happy to answer your question.
