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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our son wasn't circucised but had to be during an emergancy after he was a month old. What happened was the skin couldnt retract and started cutting off the blood supply to the head. For the second one we got him done immediately. Maybe it is something heriditary.[/quote]

I am very sorry for your trouble -- that must have been extremely upsetting!  For OP's benefit, I wanted to mention that situations like this are essentially always a result of a doctor/nurse who improperly handled the intact penis.  Due to our historically high circumcision rate, we have a generation of medical professionals who were not taught how to correctly care for an intact penis, and thus sometimes try to forcibly retract the foreskin (or instruct the parents to pull it back in order to clean), which can sometimes cause tremendous damage to the organ.

For clarification, the foreskin is fused to the glans of the penis at birth, and will stay that way for several years.  The purpose of the foreskin at this stage is to protect the penis and to prevent dirt/bacteria from entering.  Gradually over the course of several years (sometimes as late as puberty), the foreskin loosens and finally retracts.  No one, including doctors or parents, should ever retract the child's foreskin for any reason; doing so can cause the exact situation that the PP is describing where it gets "stuck" behind the glans and begins to restrict blood flow.  People often quote "hygiene" as a reason to circumcise, but the reality is that an intact penis is extremely easy to care for, as the foreskin should not be manipulated in any way, and the entire penis can be simply wiped just like you would wipe a finger.  There is no need to even retract for cleaning purposes until the child reaches puberty, and in that case the boy should be the one doing any retraction.

If you haven't figured it out already, I did not circumcise any of my three boys.  My DH is circumcised, and we initially just assumed we would be having it done to any sons.  While I was pregnant I started researching it, and after extensive reading became more and more horrified that so many people do this to their sons without any real thought or understanding about it.  OP, obviously you will make whatever decision is best for your family, but while you are doing your research I encourage you to come up with a list of five benefits of the foreskin, as well as five potential risks of having the surgery.  Many people who I've spoken to who claim they "did their research" before circumcising their sons did not really know these two things.  For us, knowing that there were significant risks cancelled out any potential benefit of getting circumcised, and knowing that there were great benefits to having a foreskin tipped the scale in favor of leaving the boys intact.  Also, it might be helpful to remember that you always have the option of choosing to circumcise in the future should you change your mind, or should your son decides he wants it done.  Circumcising at birth removes any future choice in the matter.

Good luck to you and congratulations on your son!
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