Circumcision in the DC area

[Anonymous]

Hi!
We have a very new baby boy and are discussing circumcision. Our pediatrician said in the dc area she believed the rate was about 50% circumcised and falling. I was curious -- does this number 50% sound realistic based on your own children social circles?

thanks!

Debra

[Anonymous]

Not at all. I live in NW DC, and the only baby boy I can think of (out of around 20 4 and under) that is not circumcised has European parents who plan to move back by the time the child is school aged. I have a six month old son who is circumcised. I went back and forth on the issue, but ultimately I think we would have been making a big statement by not circumcising, and our child would have born the brunt of it. We also had health issues that weighted strongly toward circumcision.

[Anonymous]

I thought circumcision was the default for Americans. My husband and I won't if we have a boy but he is Belgian.

[Anonymous]

It's really hard to say for sure. I don't know any data for DC. But I believe the national trend is somewhat downward and about 60% circumcised.

http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/

[Anonymous]

I haven't really asked a lot of moms about this, so I can't tell you percents.

Our own son isn't circumcised, and I know that two of his friends in town (and their brothers) aren't circumcised. But after the infant period, it isn't really a topic of conversation. I was in a PACE group with some moms, with 4 boys. 2 were Jewish and thus I presume circumcised; and the other two were my son and another baby who was uncirc'd.

[Anonymous]

There seems to be a trend recently against it. We did it. So I wanted to warn you that if you do choose to do it, do not leave the hospital until it is done. We misunderstood the doctors and we thought they told us they couldn't do it at the hospital (my son had jaundice). We were told we were released. After we got home, the doctor called to explain that since we had left the hospital, they could no longer do it. And it turns out very very few places will circumcize a kid after they have left the hospital. We had to go to Children's Hospital in D.C. and we had the rudest, coldest, doctor I have ever met.

Now I will say, maybe because my son was older (a few weeks) I personally found it to be a bit tramatizing to me (to actually make an appointment to inflict pain on your child is very hard), after the first hour, my son didn't seem to care. I think if you get it done right away, when they sleep constantly, it wouldn't be as tramatic on the baby or the the mom (or dad).

For the record, I left the decision up to my husband. I figured he has the parts, he would better understand what we were doing. He said he thought it was worth it, because if you don't get circumcized, you can have infections later. His father had to have a circumcision very late in life (as in when he was 60 or older) due to an infection. I don't know if that is common.

[Anonymous]

Get it done by a pediatric urologist, if you decide to do it. They do the best job.

[Anonymous]

Depends on how many jews and/or muslims you hang out with. We are jewish and did it, but hope our kids don't feel the pressure we did (obviously we're not very religious).

In general, many of the AA's and Latinos we know didn't, most of the jews did, and among white Christians I would say 50/50 is fair. Absolutely trending towards less common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: We had to go to Children's Hospital in D.C. and we had the rudest, coldest, doctor I have ever met. .

I think we had the same doc. I was warned about his "bedside manner" but he's excellent. We had to have my son's circ corrected, and this guy did it. It was a horrific experience for me to watch, and the doc was nasty as hell. But he did a great job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a trend recently against it. We did it. So I wanted to warn you that if you do choose to do it, do not leave the hospital until it is done. We misunderstood the doctors and we thought they told us they couldn't do it at the hospital (my son had jaundice). We were told we were released. After we got home, the doctor called to explain that since we had left the hospital, they could no longer do it. And it turns out very very few places will circumcize a kid after they have left the hospital. We had to go to Children's Hospital in D.C. and we had the rudest, coldest, doctor I have ever met.

quote]

I know this poster is being helpful, but I would actually counsel STRONGLY against going with the OB at the hospital, unless the OB is also a mohel. Our son, who was circumcised, had so little foreskin removed that we had to have it revised when he was six months old under general anaesthesia. Prior to the revision, everyone who saw him assumed he was uncircumcised, and my pediatrician said that about 10% of the baby boys who are circumcised by OBs have this "problem." We had to revise for medical reasons (it was very likely our son would have needed to be fully circumcised as an adult due to an inherited condition), but I would have gone ahead with the revision even if it were purely cosmetic.

[Anonymous]

In our NW cooperative playgroup, 8/8 boys are circumcized (I know because I've changed their diapers).

[Anonymous]

What kind of medical conditions would require a circumcision? Just curious - pregnant with a boy and trying to fathom what to do with one of those!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of medical conditions would require a circumcision? Just curious - pregnant with a boy and trying to fathom what to do with one of those!!!

An auto-immune disease. There's no way of telling whether he has inherited it (wouldn't be apparent until he is an adult), but if he has, he would almost certainly need to be circumcised, and it would be a lot more traumatic at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of medical conditions would require a circumcision? Just curious - pregnant with a boy and trying to fathom what to do with one of those!!!

An auto-immune disease. There's no way of telling whether he has inherited it (wouldn't be apparent until he is an adult), but if he has, he would almost certainly need to be circumcised, and it would be a lot more traumatic at that point.

More specifically, if there is any real possibility that your son could have psoriasis, then you definitely want to do it. Psoriasis is not fun in general, but is especially bad in spots on the body where skin contacts with skin.

[Anonymous]

My two boys are not circumcised. We're not European or anything exciting. My husband didn't want to do it (he is circ'd, btw) and I was fine with that.