Are you planning to circumsize? Why or Why not?

[Anonymous]

Curious to see what the opinions are out there. I work in the health policy field and have read all of the studies. My midwife comes down on the side of not enough of a compelling MEDICAL reason to do it in her opinion and the pediatricians I've interviewed agree. I do understand there are several other factors to take into consideration - ease of cleaning, culture, family norms, etc. My husband doesn't have a strong opinion but tends to fall in the "why subject him to a surgery if there's not compelling medical information" camp. How are all of you deciding this?
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

You want opinions, we got opinions:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/2050.page#9236
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/9780.page#73343
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/19211.page#115333

[maynie]

There's lots of posts on this on the old board. They're listed at the bottom of this page under bulletin board 1-7.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/dcurbanmom/index.php?module=search&search_op=results&list=phpwsbb&PAGER_limit=10&PAGER_start=0&PAGER_section=1#phpwsbb

[Anonymous]

I've left that decision in my husband's hands, who is pro-circumsision, so yes, we will be circumsizing.

[Anonymous]

My husband is 'pro' only b/c he was circumcised. But I decided not to (and have convinced him of that).

- There is really no good medical reason to do so. (Spoke to several docs in addition to doing my own research)
- Babies don't get anesthesia, so I won't be putting my baby through that.
- Cleanliness, you can clean it properly like anything else if you take care to do so.

[Anonymous]

we did and I regret it. the bottom line is - it's genital mutilation

[Anonymous]

Yes - hubby's call.

[Anonymous]

I think I would lean towards not circumsizing, but would let husband decide and he would it. I think mostly b/c he is. Silly reason to some, but important to some dads I guess.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if all the dads who are "pro" even know what their own father's circumcision status is? About 50% of our father's generation were not circumcised, and almost 100% of our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, great-great-grandfathers (etc., etc.) were not circumcised (obviously with the exception of Jewish and Muslim people). I really believe that men who just assume "everyone" is circumcised don't know anything at all about circumcision itself, the history of circumcision, or who in their family line was or was not circumcised. They make a decision for their own son based on *nothing* other than their own whim. Non-religious circumcsion has been a 50-year fad that is rapidly fading - there is no other time in history that circumcision was performed for non-religious reasons. Anyway, I think it's our job as the woman, who actually puts effort into researching these types of things, to inform - and convince - our husbands about this outdated and harmful practice.

By the way OP, no, I insisted on not circumcising, even though my husband is circed. My DH has scar tissue all over his penis due to his circ - yet he never even realized what it was ("isn't that just what penis skin is like?" "uh....no"), and was perfectly willing to have our sons circed as well. I said no way, because a) it's totally not necessary and b) I believe that human beings have a right to genital integrity and 100% normal genital function -- little girls AND little boys.

Cleaning an uncircumcised penis is easier than cleaning little girls genitals. There is literally nothing to do. When the child is old enough to retract his foreskin all by himself (somewhere between age 3-10) then he should be gently pulling it back and cleaning with warm water when he bathes.

[Anonymous]

We circumcised.

DH is circed. Also, I've had family members who weren't circed that ended up with issues later in life. One cousin needed to be circed at the age of 3, and my dad actually had issues when he was older.

It's definitely a tough decision. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

We won't. We view it as unnecessary cosmetic surgery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We circumcised.

DH is circed. Also, I've had family members who weren't circed that ended up with issues later in life. One cousin needed to be circed at the age of 3, and my dad actually had issues when he was older.

It's definitely a tough decision. Good luck.

I don't mean to pick on you, and I don't want this to come across as snotty, but I really don't understand this reasoning. Practically every body part that we have can get infected or hurt. However, NO ONE recommends cutting off ears, fingers, toenails, eyeballs, breasts, gallbladdrers, etc. etc. because at some point in the family history someone had a problem with it. Could you imagine? "Well, we have a history of excessive childhood urinary tract infections, so we are just going to remove Sally's labia within 12 hours after she's born...."

Also, I think it's very interesting to note that in countries that do not routinely circumcise (that is, pretty much every other place in the world) they find other ways to treat penis issues that do not involve cutting anything off. In other words, little boys and grown men don't wind up "needing" to be circumcised in countries that don't practice circumcision. Just like we would never recommend cutting off labia to treat recurrent UTI's, no one else finds it necessary to cut off the foreskin.

[Anonymous]

We didn't. But I agonized over the situation. I think I've told this story on one of the other threads, but I'll relay it here for your benefit...

We didn't circumsize my son, and I'm glad, but unfortunately, he ended up with one of the few "medical reasons" why circumcision might have been beneficial.

At 5 weeks, he got a raging kidney infection, and was diagnosed with kidney reflux (basically, the valve between the bladder and the ureter (the tube between the bladder and kidney) doesn't work right. Its a relatively rare condition, and in most cases "self-corrects" as the child ages (he's fine now, at age 4). In the 4 weeks it took to make the diagnosis, and get on the right medication, he got two subsequent bad infections, each with 3-5 days of hospitalization. When we finally got in to see the specialist (one of the area's best pediatric urologists), we discussed options. The urologist did say that being uncircumsized did add a slight amount of risk (to any boy, but maybe moreso in the case of a child with reflux) of a urinary tract infection. Since, at the time, we were having trouble controlling the infections, I asked him if he would recommend circumcision. He said he does recommend circumcision in some cases, but only in extreme cases, and didn't think that we were anywhere near there. He also regarded it as a medically unnecessary surgery, that provided little (if any) documented medical benefits.

When I had my second son, we revisited the issue, because kidney reflux can run in families, and thus there was a higher chance that my second son would also have reflux. While I was still pregnant with him, I asked the specialist whether we should circumsize my second son (I'm not sure we would've anyway, but I wanted his input), and he said no. We didn't. He ALSO had reflux, but we have not had any trouble controlling it with antibiotics.


Ultimately though, I kind of decided I thought I wasn't in favor of it, unless I could think of a "good" reason to do it. Here are some of the factors I considered:
1) The "different" element. If my kids were circ'd or uncirc'd, how likely would it be that they would be "different"? My husband is uncirc'd, and in this area, I think the circumcision rate is almost 50-50, so I felt pretty confident that my sons wouldn't be ostracized. now, if I lived in Kansas (where I think there are still higher circumcision rates), I might feel differently.

2) The medical evidence. The evidence that circ'd males are "safer" seemed, at best, marginal to me. I also think there is some credence to the studies that say that the loss of the foreskin results in less sensitivity for sex.

3) Pain/ease of surgery. I know there are many people (including doctors) who say that an infant does not have well developed pain responses at just a few days old... but it still seems like unnecessary pain. I got upset even when they were doing heel pricks for routine blood draws.

4) My general feelings about medical procedures. I tend to be a "minimalist" when it comes to health care. Unless somethings really wrong, I don't want doctors poking around in me or my children. So I'm always somewhat suspicious when a doctor/surgeon says "oh, its no big deal". hmmm.

5) My husband's wishes/thoughts. Respectfully, I disagree with those who leave this decision entirely to their spouses. Certainly your husband has some valuable firsthand experience that should be weighed carefully... but this is YOUR child (i.e., your's AND your husband's) and I think its unwise to discount your OWN thoughts on the matter. My husband and I discussed this a lot, and gave it great thought... but he's uncirc'd, and couldn't think of any reason to circumcize.

6) Religious reasons. They really didn't apply to us, but I know they are important to some.

I don't know if that's helpful, but I think this is a decision that is worth some careful thought before birth. Consider all the factors you find relevant, and make your best informed decision.

[Anonymous]

OP--you and your husband should make the decision just the two of you and be done with it. You will find as many opinions as people, and there is no reason you should care what anyone else does. For some reason, this is a subject that stirs up a lot of bile, so I encourage you make your decision, either do it or don't, and don't look back. Do what you think is the best decision for your son, and don't be bullied or swayed in either direction. Good luck.