Reply to Why do you care what I decide to do to my son's penis when he is born?

Forum Index » Expectant and Postpartum Moms

Reply to "Why do you care what I decide to do to my son's penis when he is born?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is really beyond it's use, but I wanted to share one observation. Although more American doctors are getting used to seeing circumcised boys, a good deal of them don't know, themselves, how to treat an intact penis. There are frequent stories shared on the Moms on the Hill listserv about boys who weren't circumcised but later had to be. In many of the cases, they're discussing boys where the doctor said they must circumcise at like, six, for failure to retract, etc, and most experts suggest that this is too soon. Additionally, some parents were mistakenly told to try to retract their sons foreskins and this caused injury or adhesions. I have one friend whose pediatrician, before she knew it, forcibly retracted her son's penis. In another instance, a friend took her child to children's for a suspected UTI (as it turns out, he did not have a UTI, instead, it was chafed and sore from the mesh of his bathing suit) and instead of trying to collect a urine sample, the ER doctor forcibly retracted the penis and catheterized him. I can absolutely understand why hearing these stories would scare a new parent into circumcising, although it's a medical knowledge gap, not the fault of the intact penis itself (which is why I think we see so many fewer such instances of circ due to problems in Europe despite the majority of that population being intact). Anyway, I can understand this because my college boyfriend had a "botched" circumcision. Too much foreskin was removed from his penis (he was a twin born a few weeks early, which can increase the risks) and he had painful erections. This is EXTREMELY rare, but it still colored my own view when we were deciding what to do with our son. (We did not circ).

It's not an easy decision for many, despite the strong feelings here. The status quo in this country has been circumcising for so long that it was unquestioned for a long time. I think that, combined with the fact that most men who have had it done don't actually grow up to regret it (unlike my college boyfriend - I wonder if he ever had anything done about it?) makes it hard to turn the tide.

I do think the tide is turning, though. Insurance is definitely paying for it less and less often. 
[/quote]

Great post, thank you. I am from Europe, have two uncircumcised sons, and will be on guard if they ever have any issues with their foreskins and have to see an American doctor for it (thankfully, a good friend of mine is a urologist in Europe, so I can always consult him).[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics