Circumcision - Would you/Did you circumcise your baby boy at birth?

[Obiwan]

I have heard 2 sides of the story.

In the US, it's typically done at birth, before discharge from the hospital.

Doctors here are advising to do it later in age (or if at all, as it is not a necessary procedure), as they are so small then it is easy to make a mistake and cut off too much skin.

Any experience/knowledge on this matter.

 

[thanka2]

We chose not to. There is a strong movement against it but for us both culturally and practically, there was no reason to do so. If we had chosen to do it we would have done so within the first 10 days after birth.

 

[lesliefu]

We didn't as our pediatrician advised against it...said that our son was borderline case, I.e. If he cut off he thing might be even shorter...poor boy! My sisters kids have done it, apparently for hygienic reasons and nothing else. I don't think I would have had it circumsized even if my boy was not borderline case since there is no medical reason to do it (or so I was led to believe),

 

[Obiwan]

We did ours. So it's too late to even ask this question

I have been thinking about it since, and until now since haven't quite made peace to be honest ...

 

[genkimom]

There are two medical reasons for doing it. One, when they are babies, they have a higher risk of getting a UTI or kidney infection. This risk is like 1% or something very low, but not impossible. Two, as an adult, uncircumcised men can have trouble if their foreskin is too tight and cant expand during erections...and then they need to get an adult circumcision, which has a higher risk of secondary complications in adults than in infants. Again, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low, but not impossible.

I chose not to circumcise my son, as the health risks were quite low and the procedure seemed unwarranted and a rather cruel thing to do to a newborn.

I stand by this decision, despite the fact he DID have a raging kidney infection as an infant and the doctor thought there was a slight possibility it was related to being uncircumcised (but no one can be certain they were correlated). I am glad I had a girl the second time, as I didn't have to think about it again (as I was considering which is more cruel; a quick clip for an infant or months of undiagnosed raging painful kidney infection....even though the % chance is so small, it really happened to us, so....)

 

[Obiwan]

The risk of doing it as a newborn is taking away too much skin, that's what our current ped is telling us (she doesn't recommend it).

 

[Koan]

No. Never.

 

[thanka2]

The risk of doing it as a newborn is taking away too much skin, that's what our current ped is telling us (she doesn't recommend it).

Could it be because circumcisions are not routinely done in Hong Kong? Maybe a doctor elsewhere would have more experience/feel more confident in performing one. Anyway, there is a growing movement of people who are definitely against circumcision.

 

[Lali07]

We didn't. Its a very sensitive subject, but I can't get past the fact that its unacceptable to surgically alter a baby girl's genitalia, so not sure why baby boys aren't afforded the same consideration. The risks of problems arising in the uncircumcised and circumcised penis are similar percentage-wise, so for all the trauma, the risks of one are replaced with the risks of another.

The below websites helped us to make our decision in the days before our son was born. Please don't shoot the messenger!

**Warning: very confronting images and wording*http://www.drmomma.org/

For information presented in a less confronting way:

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/pregnancy-childbirth/whether-or-not-circumcise

 

[southside852]

we did ours in singapore on day 2 with our #2 son. with our first son we did it day 8. anything later is out of the question.