Circumcision – Why or Why Not Chose It?

It's just the thing to do this day and time !
If you don't do it, you will have to clean it all the time & he could get embarrassed down the road later !
Looks better too !
My son was done.

Circumcised all of them -
My husband is circumcised.
My dad had to be circumcised later in life (teens) due to infection, and it was a pretty horrible experience.
My mother is Jewish.

We chose not to circumcise our son because we feel like it is unnecessary mutilation of a special part of his body and that it should ultimately be his choice. We have had no problems and do not regret the decision so far (he's 4 1/2).

Hi W.,

We chose not to circumcise our son (he's 3). We just decided that although we are his parents, we do not own his body and didn't feel right doing it. If, when he gets older he wants it done, we will have it done then....and it will be his decision, not ours.

I have to say though, if my oldest had been a boy, we would have probably circumcised without thinking about it. It wasn't until I was pregnant with #2 that I came across an anti-circ organization at a baby fest in Dallas. I had never even thought about it & had no clue that a man could grow up and wish his parents hadn't done it! Their booth was full of guys who belonged to the organization, so it caused me to start researching it.

My husband & I discussed it alot, and although he is circumcised, he even felt that we shouldn't do it. So, that's how we came to our decision. I do think it's a very personal decision for all parents, and everyone seems to have a different reason to do it or not to do it. I just tell people to trust your gut and go with what's in your heart.

:-) H.

Hi W.!

I also hope that you get non-judgemental responses to your question. In my experience, I never thought about not doing it. I have 5 boys & their Dad was, so we chose to. My Exhusbands Dad was not circumcised & he also told us that he wished he were. He is in his 60's now & Dr's choose not to do at this late age. I just wanted my boys to all look alike. My 1st son was & I had no idea that this was a contreversial subject until #5.

I say each parent should make the decision that they feel comfortable with. It is a decision your baby boy will have to live with & I know that people opposed have a lot of good reasons. I watched my son have his (the ring) & he slept through the whole thing. Good luck!

My husband is not circumcised,and his mother said they didn't do it because of health care or something, but when we got pregnant with our son who is now 2, my husband said that he wanted him circumsized, why I dont know. I think it's personal choice. I didn't want it done just because I couldnt imagine my son being in any pain or being mutilated like that, but his daddy didn't want him to be different. I dont know we made the right decision, but the Bible says circumcision is done to make a convanent with God, it shows your bond with him. I think every parent should make the decision based on their beleifs and what they think is best. Like I said before, I dont know that our decision was the right one, or that I would ever make it again, but what's done is done.

I did just because all the men in our family are. I didn't want him to think that he was different later in life because Daddy is and he isn't. He slept through it! He was 2 days old...

We chose to have our son circumcised, I think 2-3 days after he was born. We have had no problems and I am glad that we got it done, his Dad is circumcised and I think he might have thought it was weird to not look like his Daddy's when potty training starts. We did not see it done, and I am glad, because I dont know if I could have handled it.

17 years ago I was wondering whether or not to do my son and my Father in Law convinced me to do it because he had not had it done as a baby. But as he grew older he had many, many problems and had it done as a young man in the Army. He said he was so relieved afterwards. No more problems. It was a very graphic conversation.... I'd forgotten till I saw your post. Now I'm going to try to forget it again!

We chose to have our son circumsized in the same week he was born and at the hospital. I'm pretty sure we both knew he would be circ'd, and I knew what they were going to do and that made me sad for my newborn. I'm glad we did it then, because he'll never remember it. I still remember when they brought him back to the room after the procedure. He was a little fussy - he just wanted to nurse! We haven't had any problems, everything healed very well.

Being Jewish this is something you don't even think about not doing. The Mohel is just as big a part of your birth plan as your OB. ;) It is in the Old Testament that all boys are to be circumcised. I'll let things like vaccinations and organic foods be controversial subjects. For me there is no other way.

Hi W.:

I do not have a son but have brothers, husband, male cousins, etc.. My understanding is that it originated in the Bible and I think you can read about it in the book of Mark or Luke.

Most males I know are circumcised but my father-in-law was not and it did cause him problems as a boy. From what my husband and mom-in-law told me - his dad would get infections and also teased from other boys - this is why his sons were circumcised. Note - cleaniness is very important to prevent infections.

All this said, I have no first hand experience on this but thought I would pass along what I was told.

Have a great day!

T.

Without reading the other responses, I'll say this... my husband was adamant about circumcision because he is and because as a former drill sgt. he saw grown men have to have surgery because it was unclean. He says he'll never forget it.
However, my son's was what they call "too aggressive" and we are soon visiting a pediatric urologist to talk about surgery. So I have mixed emotions.
Apparently they took too much skin, so it hurts when his peepee gets hard. ALSO his does not stick out until it gets hard... it looks like a belly button otherwise. I don't really talk about it...

We had our son circumsized. I had never thought about it before, but my husband wanted it done and I trusted his judgement and left it up to him. I didn't see the procedure, but my husband did and told me it was quick and easy. My son is now 3 1/2 and just recently, I got online and watched the procedure through youtube. It made me want to cry that I had that done to my son. The baby was crying and it seemed like a strange thing to do to a baby's genitals. I was really upset about it and told my husband I can't believe we did that to our boy. He told me he's a guy and to trust him. If we ever have another son, we will get him circumcised as well.

I talked to my brother about it (I have four brothers...) and he said he'd rather it be done when he was a baby. He actually had hypospadia (a common birth defect in boys) when he was born and didn't have to be circumcised, but had to have a few operations down there. He's very glad it was all done before he was 2 years old and is very happy with my parents' decision to get him all "fixed" so he didn't have to deal with anything as a teenager. Anyway, I'm not a guy, but all the guys in my life say circumcision is the way to go...it looks better and stays cleaner according to them...

I wasn't planning on having our son circumcised until I talked to my dad and my father-in-law. Both of them were not circumcised and wished they had been. I chose to have both my boys circumcised my a pediatrician who used a local about a week after birth. So far neither of them have had any problems and I'm happy I did it b/c it makes bath time a little easier!
Also, both of my kids circumcisions healed much faster than their umbilical cord. My second child eventually had to have his umbilical cord cut off while his circumcision had already healed several weeks prior.

We had our son circumcised in the hospital. We didn't even think of not doing it. My husband is, & he wanted his son to be, too. So it wasn't a problem for us to decide. I honestly didn't know it was a huge controversy. I also honestly didn't realize that other men in this country weren't circumcised! It wasn't until I met another mother with a son that some parents decided not to have it done. Both her son & husband were uncircumcised, & I was dumbfounded! I know...it seems very naive of me.

My husband & my son have never had any problems. Based on some of the replies, it just seems to be a case-by-case thing if there were complications. Another friend's son was circumcised when he was a newborn, but it didn't "take" for some reason. When he needed to have a hernia surgery at age 3, they ended up circumcising him at the same time. The circumcision hurt worse than the other surgery & took longer to heal, so I guess is it better to do it when they are newborns.

As for the mutilation issue, I don't believe that circumcision is considered mutilation. I believe it's more along the lines of getting a baby's ear pierced rather than the same subject as female genital mutilation. I don't believe in piercing a baby's ears either, so each to his own, right?