If You Chose to Leave Your Son Intact (Uncircumcised)…

When researching this issue I didn't find any reliable evidence that circumcision benefits a boy's health. Therefore I am in the "if it aint broke don't fix it" camp. My husband agreed.

My son is NOT circumsized for 2 main reasons, first because his dad is not, second, because it is no longer done in hospital and is no longer concidered medically needed. We were both in aggreement, so there were no issues. I would feel bad if there later became a medical reason that my son would have to have this done, but so far no issues and he's now 5.

I used the same criteria I use for all medical decisions for my children. The benefits of doing it had to outweigh the risks. I found only risks and no benefit.

The only argument that almost held sway on me had to do with penile cancer. But then I realized that we don't preemptively cut off breasts or other body parts just in case we may or may not get cancer.

The culture in my family was to have it done but I've never been a follow the pack kind of person.

I don't regret my decision and the choice I made for my son is not the irreversible kind. If it's important to him later, he can have it done and I'll make him a big pot of chicken soup.

Where I am from ALL boys ARE NOT circumcised and I never heard any man (or woman) having a problem with that. Nature made it perfect, don't see why a parent should chop off a perfect part of the baby's body. We consider it absolutely unnecessary and brutal. My ex husband (father of my child), being american, is circumcised and didn't think twice about leaving our son whole, infact, he was the one who made sure our boy (born in the USA) was left intact by letting all the medical staff know we did not want circumcision at all.

when my son was born and his dr. came to the hospital for his first check up (Dr. Sears), and asked us if we wanted to or not. I was half asleep so my husband talked with him about it. He said that IF we wanted it done, he will not do it. He doesn't believe in it. He also said that there is NO medical reason at all to have it done. So, my husband decided to not do it. I said OK and that was that. If there is no real medical need for it, why in the world would I want to put my son through that?

What was the main thing that influenced your choice?
> I think it was just that I don't like to put my children through any more medical interference than necessary. I believe modern medicine has done so much for us, but I do think Americans in particular seem to need to medically address every little thing. When my son came out, he was just so perfect that I didn't feel any urge at all to change my mind. In case you are wondering, I also didn't pierce my daughter's ears. I'm of the mindset that they can decide to permanently change their own bodies when they are old enough, should they choose to.

Did your husband go along with it willingly?
> Yes, he is intact. His family is European (although he was born and raised in the U.S.) and they just don't do it over there unless you are Jewish. He told me he had never really been teased or anything about it, and he didn't see the need for it.

What, if anything, would have changed your mind?
> Absolutely, my mind could have been changed. I did lots of research before I came to a final decision. I read the AAP's recommendation (which is that circumcision is medically unnecessary), I read the statistics on increased risk of infection (about 2%) vs. risk of complications with the procedure (about 2%). I read about how people in other countries handle it (in Europe, Asia, and much of Africa, it is not commonly done). Had any of these things been dramatically different, I would have reconsidered my decision. In fact, though, the only advantage I could find is that circumcised men are less likely to pass STDs (but I plan to raise a responsible young man who will hopefully protect himself and his partner from STDs in other ways).

I hope you gain lots of insight from your survey. Good luck.

I was circumcised as was my brother, dad, and grand dad. All of my sons (6) were and all of their sons were and to the best of my knowledge all of the future sons will be circumcised.

I had one friend that wasn't and he opted to be circumcised when he was in the 7th or 8th grade. (When I went to school all of the boys and all the girls had to go to a gym class and had to take a shower in a communal shower after gym and before going to their next class so it was easy to see who was or wasn't circumcised.)

Good luck to you and yours.

I am a scientist and when I was in my 20s I read the whole Science Magazine (a science journal) that came out all on circumcision. It was all science and medical articles. That totally convinced me there is no need to circumcise. Plus my husband is not circumcised, so that makes it easy. He is totally on board with not doing it...he has never once had a problem and he was never teased in school (in Texas no less!) and was a smart, popular kid. Our son is 8 and has never had a problem. I just think we were made a certain way and there really is no need to mess with things. I never found anything that would change my mind - after reading/researching it in depth. And this means facts and not listening to word of mouth stories with not enough data behind them to have good solid statistics. I have no problem with whatever a family decides to do - it's not my business and I do not argue about it or even discuss it with others. Good luck with your decision, whatever you decide! :)

You are killing me with the duel questions. :)

Very diplomatic but making me laugh.

Honestly, I don't see a reason for it. And really, if the boys in the lockerroom are looking, they must be really bored or really need something else to occupy them. My sons are not and I would not have even considered it. My husband and his brothers are not, nor are my brothers. My nephews were but only because it was the thing to do. None of the above have had issues and I really think that problems that come up is an individual thing, not because all boys should or should not be. With both my sons, the nurse would ask if it is because of their bleeding disorder and would I want to have it done with the specialist. NO. I see no need.

Where I come from ALL the boys are circumcised, where my husband is from they simply do not do it... ever.... When my boy was born I looked in the internet and searched for all the information I could gather to convince my husband that we needed to circumcise my son.... There is nothing, there is no real, health, etc reason to do it... no discussion, no argument, we simply did not do it. That was the natural thing to do.

We're having a boy (due this month) and have decided not to circumcise him. Initially, my husband wanted to circumcise him because he thought it was just the thing to do. But once we talked to some pediatricians and did some research, we both agreed not to.

Our decision was based primarily on the fact that it's a medical procedure performed on a newborn that is not considered "medically necessary" per the American Pediatric Association. Then we heard and saw examples of complications that could occur, from minor and less reported (decreased stimulation) to major (complete mutilation/amputation). Although many reports said that complications are rare, we learned that most studies have a method of determining when a complication occurs. And we were horrified to find out that many of them, for example, don't count a complication if it's discovered after the baby goes home, which is when it usually is (read the fine print on the study publications). So, we're both content with keeping him "in tact" as you put it. Besides, in our case, he'll be just like his father whose happy with the way he is.

I did some research - we weren't for or against it for religious reasons - so it was purely a personal preference or medical need type of objective answer for us....we decided against it when I read that little ones who get circumcised have a lower tolerance for pain the coming months, cry more and no matter what you say - this should hurt...even as adults if we got something like this done would it not hurt to remove skin like this.....so we decided to teach him good hygiene growing up and let him keep his body intact.

Thank you for posting that, Dad on Purpose. :)

We chose not to b/c the most current health info showed that the health risks of doing it (low that they may be) were slightly outweighed by the health risks of not. We talked to our childbirth teacher, our midwife, and our child's doctor...
I just asked my husband if he regreted not doing it with our sons (he is circ.) and if I talked him into it...he said no. I did however say it was his decision but that if he chose to do it that I needed more of a reason than "so he looks like me" ....which forced us both to research it a bit.

Initially my husband claimed it was money that kept us from doing it but truthfully he realized we did not want to put our son through that pain. Once our son was older we realized we are so happy we made that choice. My child is now 5 and truthfully being that he is autistic(moderate-severe)we don't foresee him ever having a reason to use his member let alone have an issue with being intact. Nothing would've made change my mind.

My husband is uncircumcised and we both didnt feel a need to get our son circumcised. We simply didnt see any benefit in it.

Personally I think that is silly to say your not going to circumcise for chose. We have 2 boys they were both circumcised. Its cleaner. When they get older little boys see each stuff. You dont want your son being teased because he looks different.

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My boys aren't simply because my husband isn't.

I did not choose to leave him uncircumcised.
The dr.'s refused to do it due to the fact that my son may have a bleeding disorder like hemophilia.(Von Wilderbrand's disease)

Even though, it went against my beliefs.....
My son has had absolutely no problems being uncircumcised.
He is 12 now and cannot even think about putting him through the event now that he is so old. It will now be his decision to go through it.