circumcision

hi I fear posting this but everyone has such great advice. a coworker of mine recently adopted a little baby boy from columbia. we are all so in love with him. he is 6 mos, and not circimcised, his father wants it done, but his mother can't imagine taking him in and having him go through the pain. my dh will kill me for sharing this info, but he is not circimcised and I promise my coworkers he has never had an infection or had any locker room teasing done to him. But I don't want to offer her any advice without proper knowlegde. my dh says he would like for our kids to be kept intact, as he says it is all cosmetic, and other countries live everything as is. any thoughts? I know that there is no right/wrong answer and every mother does what she feels is best for their child. but my coworker is torn that this miracle of a baby is going to go through being held down and snipped and in pain. thanks I just realized my dh pic is my avantar, he would kill me!!!lol

Re: circumcision

My husband isn't so we didn't circumcise our son. My OBGYN & pediatrician said it is perfectly fine not to. And as you said alot of other countries don't do it. It's a personal choice!!

Re: circumcision

I think this is a hard decision. DH and I went back and forth about this when I was pg. Since we had a girl, we didn't have to make the decision, but we were going to circumcise for the sole reason being that DH was circumcised and we wanted our boy to 'look' like DH! Otherwise, we both felt that it wasn't a medical necessity, and it's just a cultural thing.

I urge your friend to do the research (or maybe you can do it for her). There are so many pros and cons on both sides of the issue, and I know it's a controversial one. It's important that she make an educated decision.

Re: circumcision

There are few countries that perform circumsicions as frequently and readily as the US. That being said, I think that unless it has something to do with your religious beliefs, it is more cosmetic than anything.

I've had this discussion with DH because he's from the UK and circumcision is something that's really not done over there, unless it's for religious reasons. In his mind it's mutilation and no different then genital mutilation that's performed on women in some countries. He was pretty much adamant about not doing it.

My main concern was also about the whole locker room teasing and all that (cosmetic) and I figured that since DH grew up in a place where it wasn't done, he still fit in, and therefore wouldn't be subjected to any sort of ridicule.

In the end I actually spoke to my brother, who's also 'intact' since he grew up here and I figured he's have first hand knowledge of the whole thing. According to him, it's never been an issue in the locker room. So in the end I decided against it. This is my opnion and you'll get varying opinions on the matter. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to be honest. But IMO why cause unnecessary pain? Even if it's pain that'll never be remembered. Plus, according to my brother 'one day when he's old enough and starts having sex, he'll thank you for it'
apparently there's a lot more sensitivity there if you keep things the way they are.

Re: circumcision

thanks guys!!!! My DH brought that up that our sons will look like him, but then I asked when will our sons ever really see his'thing' lol. he just laughed and said I guess. I really don't care either way, I feel like it is fine if it is left as is, so if DH has an opinion I will go with that.

Re: circumcision

susans. that is funny I did not know how into this I could get. lol. I can try and phrase it properly. um lets see. when the sleeve hits the top, then it is being done properly. does that make sense? I am going to stop here definately. lol

Re: circumcision

My son who is 20 is uncircumcised. When he was born it was pediatrician who suggested that it not be done unless there was some religious or cultural reason for it. I decided that it was an unnecessary surgical procedure and didn't have it done.

When this topic came up on the boards once before I asked him if he had ever been teased or made the butt of locker room jokes because of it. He said absolutely never. He has never had an infection nor any problems of any kind. He always said if he ever had a son, he would not have it done either. I think it is a matter of personal choice...there really is no reason to do it.

Re: circumcision

I had my son circ'd and it is very fast. So I know the idea of the baby being held down and having a scapel taken to his privates is quite a horrid thought, but it's very quick. And he was in my arms 10 minutes later and not suffering, in fact he was sleeping. I also attended a bris last year for my friend's son and he wasn't crying bloody murder. Of course he was 2 days old vs. 6 months but I dont really think the baby will be tortured. With that said, it's still a personal choice. As far as being teased for being different, I think the answers here alone represent what I have heard on other Mommy boards, that there's almost an even split between baby boys being circ'd or uncirc'd. And I know that many Moms would not being refraining if there were anything totally unhygienic about it.

God bless your friend and her new baby boy! What a gift he is (and they are to him)


Yes, you are right, your FH would kill you if he knew. LOL I was thinking that also about your avatar...I feel like I have TMI on your FH - j/k LOL LOL

Re: circumcision

I'm from a country where circumcision is the norm. When my son was born I didn't have him circumcised because he was in nicu for 2 days and I didn't want him to go through any more trauma. My pediatrician assured me that circumcision is purely cosmetic and there aren't any health issues involved either way. My DH and I however really wanted our son to be circumsized so we looked into it. It turns out they don't cirucumsize younger than 6 months unless it's done right after birth. Also they will have to give the baby general anesthesia to prevent it from moving during the surgery. We decided not to go through with it because of the anesthesia. We just find the risks of putting the baby to sleep isn't worth it. We're have it done when he's a little older and they'll only use local anesthesia.