A good reason to circ?

[UnderTheStars]

Originally Posted by CharlieInCharge Therefore, the only thing that would require immediate intervention is a life-threatening deformity that nothing as "simple" as a circumcision could fix, logically speaking.

This. I can think of very few medical reasons to circ, let alone any immediate newborn medical issues that would require one.

[jenfostermom]

We have 4 boys, 3 of which are intact by our choice. We have had not one single infection in all 11 years so far of intact boys.

P.S. Our one that is circ'd is our foster son who we got at 5 weeks and was already circ'd so we had no choice.

[MamaNae]

Yup, I asked my hospital as well (during one of my prenatals) if I were to tell them right then that my child (boy or girl LOL) wasn't going to be circ'ed what would happen if my husband tried to sneak DS2 away while I was sleeping (didn't happen of course, DH was 100% on board) and they said wouldn't happen. Mama gets final say ALWAYS. Like you said they can be fairly sure who the mama is but you just never know about the daddy. Even when you're married the baby is 100% tied to Mama. Daddy has zero say. They wouldn't even let DH sign a single document related to any of our kids. I had to do it.

[biokatie]

I hope you get it worked out before you go in the hospital.

[Bethan_77]

Thanks mamas. This is helpful.

I too hope ts is resolved before going to the hospital. If it isn't, so be it. I'm hoping for early discharge so our time there will likely be limited.

[TalkinBoutMyGirl]

The "medical reasons" that docs will give you for circing aren't really valid. There are VERY FEW reasons to actually circ. Stand strong mama!

[iris0110]

Originally Posted by purpledayz DH had to have it done as a baby but he isn't entirely sure of the medical reasons why. He said something about the opening being off to the side and it was a problem. It's not really something I want to ask MIL about. I don't know if his problem is an issue nowadays since we know not to retract the foreskin until the child is older. But it's something you may want to look up.

There is a medical condition called Hypospadias where the opening to the urethra is not where it should be. It doesn't specifically necessitate circumcision however the foreskin is frequently used for the reconstructive surgery. It is a somewhat common congenital condition though I think severity effects whether surgery is needed or not. Intact or circumcised status really has nothing to do with it, but if a boy is intact then there is the benefit of having the tissue of the foreskin available for use in reconstruction. In extreme cases chordee may be involved as well. But this wouldn't be something that would need done urgently at birth. In fact it is recommended that boys born with hypospadias not be circumcised until the time when the surgical repair of the urethra is performed.

[THBVsMama]

Originally Posted by Bethan_77 Thanks mamas. This is helpful. I too hope ts is resolved before going to the hospital. If it isn't, so be it. I'm hoping for early discharge so our time there will likely be limited.

Mama, have you shown your DH a video of an actual circumcision being performed on a newborn? Just a video had my (circumcised) DH in near tears. It's not just a little snip, snip, and all's well. I encourage you to show him one, if possible.

[frenchie]

Originally Posted by vittoriosmom Hi Mama! I am from Poland and when we found out we were having a boy my first reaction was- we will not circumcise. My husband did not agree with me because he is circed himself. We don't circumcise boys in Poland- men in my family are intact :-) I talked to my dad about it and he strongly felt like I should leave my son's penis alone... What are the reasons that your husband wants your son circed? I agreed to do it because of a talk I had with a mom that did not have his son circed. He got many bad infections and the doctor recommended to circumcise him. Well she agreed and told me that when she saw his suffer through that as a 4 year old she regretted not doing it when he was an infant. That spoke to me more than any other pro-circumcision reason. Actually no other reason spoke to me. I was dead set on my point of view. Well hearing what the little guy went through as a 4 year old, and that he will always remember the pain- as oppose to an infant-that was enough. We ended up circumcising my son and I don't regret it. It was a little scary to see him go through it in the hospital and he just wanted to sleep after the procedure but it healed pretty quickly (within one week) and I never thought about it again. Now he is a toddler and likes to "play" with his "pee pee" occasionally -for example with dirty hands- and we don't have problems with infectons. I once watched a 2 year old boy in NYC (a couple of years ago) and he was playing in the sandbox in the summer. Somehow sand got in his diaper (cloth) and he ended up with a painful penis, and had to be taken to the pedi who only "pulled" the skin backwards which was not a pleasure either.

My intact DS has played with his penis with dirty hands...no infections here. In fact, I don't worry about that, because the foreskin protects his penis. Furthermore, DS surfs, and frequently gets sand in his shorts. Again, no problem with sand in his penis.

[vittoriosmom]

Originally Posted by CherryPie Vittoriosmom- those two incidences spoke more to you than a whole country (Poland) and family full of intact men with no problems?

Yes they did. Obviously I did not feel too strongly about the whole thing. Maybe I was manipulated into this. I admit, it is easy to get me to believe something.

Maybe I would have done it differently now, maybe I wouldn't.

I probably did not do enough research to be strongly against it...

I would love to read an article that talks about why not to circ. So please spam me!Link me! I am open to learning about this. There is just too much on the internet about this and I don't know where to start reading and which article to believe.
Hey, teach me something :-)