Top ten reasons not to circumcise your son

[mtchen79]

All boys (and girls) around the world are born with foreskin, this is not some accident of nature yet it happens in the U.S. to baby boys every day. The cleanliness issue shouldn't be an issue when hygiene is not something to battle with in the U.S. given access to clean water, as other people in other countries don't seem to be complaining about this either.

I hear the comment about boys needing to look like their dads before I was ever pregnant the first time (so I didn't really know the details about circ then) and given my lack of knowledge at the time, I can see how I, too, would've easily accepted the practice for that reason alone because people talk about that like that is a perfectly legitimate and logical reason. However, baby girls don't look exactly like their moms so it shouldn't be any less unusual that baby boys do not look exactly like their dads in terms of the baby's body and an adult body. My DD doesn't seem the least bit upset or traumatized that she doesn't have developed breasts.

I think any boy would be more thankful that his genitals weren't cut as a newborn without his consent than to have them cut just so he can look like his dad.

[wjallen05]

Originally Posted by ktmelody My son is intact. My DH has what they call a partial circ, which was common in the 70s, but it was botched.

My DH is also partially circ'd. The Drs "messed up" and only removed half of the foreskin. They told his parents that they could bring him back in a few days to "fix it" and remove the rest of the foreskin. Thankfully, they chose not to.

My DH didn't even know that he was "half circumcised" Shortly after we were married, I noticed he looked "different" so I called my MIL and asked "is William circumscised?" she said "I was wondering if you'd notice that!" then she told me the story. I shared it with DH, who had *NO* idea ( ) he told me that his dad told him that he just had more skin than most boys. LOL.

[beautiful8]

Originally Posted by wjallen05 Thanks for posting this! Our son is not circumcised. I figure God made him perfect just the way he is, why change anything? I hate when people say "it looks better circumcised" who cares? It's a penis. When my OB/GYN asked if we were going to have our son circ, I said "no" expecting to hear a lecture, he replied with "oh, good. my sons aren't circumcised either. It's completely un-neccesary"

this is happening more and more, my sil had the same experience with her OB, he said that it wasn't reccomended and actualy commended her for not doing it.

Originally Posted by ktmelody I also wanted to add, for those who asked, the question about when you and your DH disagree. When we found out my 3rd child was a boy, I immediately told DH that we would not be circumcising him. He tried to argue with me about it, even though he knew at the time that his circ was botched. All I told my DH was, that it was not our decision to make, and that our son could make that decision when he was old enough and if he wanted to. In my eyes, it was not up for discussion. Later on he asked for some information about not circing and I gladly gave it to him. He is now VERY anti circ and shares the same feelings as I do. I was also able to convince my parents and my brother that circumcising infant boys is not needed unless there is a true medical reason to do so. They were very against me in the beginning about my choice to leave my son intact. My brother always felt horrible after they circed their son, who had his foreskin grow back at 9 months old and had to be put under general anesthesia to take the foreskin back off. Which has now caused my 10 year old nephew to have painful erections and urinary issues. Something he can never get back and will suffer for as an adult.

This too....I find it highly ironic that my oldest ds who is now almost 11, has suffered many an issue with his penis, one of the biggies was he cannot take baths, at all,.....he has had a few instances where soap bubbles went into the hole in the head and caused massive irritation to where he wouldn't pee for almost 24 hours straight. it was SCARY....he was holding it and in pain because he was afraid of the pain. My dh commented the first time it happened that he used to have that happen to him all he time when he was a kid

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by beautiful7 This too....I find it highly ironic that my oldest ds who is now almost 11, has suffered many an issue with his penis, one of the biggies was he cannot take baths, at all,.....he has had a few instances where soap bubbles went into the hole in the head and caused massive irritation to where he wouldn't pee for almost 24 hours straight. it was SCARY....he was holding it and in pain because he was afraid of the pain. My dh commented the first time it happened that he used to have that happen to him all he time when he was a kid

Wow, do you think that has to do with circ, too? I thought I had heard of all the complications, but my circ'ed dh has that issue, too, and my boys have never complained, even when they sneak the soap into the tub when I'm not looking.

[smcjoj3]

Originally Posted by christy005 thanks for posting. I had my DS circumsized and regret doing it everyday. I definitely will not be getting our new son circumsized.

I feel exactly the same way. I regret it all the time. I constantly beat myself up for not being more informed about it. I was on the fence about it & never did the research & just let it happen. If we have another DS, i would never do it again....but I am left feeling a little guilty/odd,....would one or the other be crabby/weird with me later in life for circ'ing (or not circ'ing) one son & not the other?

[beautiful8]

Originally Posted by Galatea Wow, do you think that has to do with circ, too? I thought I had heard of all the complications, but my circ'ed dh has that issue, too, and my boys have never complained, even when they sneak the soap into the tub when I'm not looking.

I think it most definately has to be, reason being, there is no foreskin covering the hole,....so more things can get down into the urethra (?). I felt so bad for my ds, he was only 7 the first time it happened and I seriously thought he was going to have to go to the ER to get catheterized

[beautiful8]

Originally Posted by smcjoj3 I feel exactly the same way. I regret it all the time. I constantly beat myself up for not being more informed about it. I was on the fence about it & never did the research & just let it happen. If we have another DS, i would never do it again....but I am left feeling a little guilty/odd,....would one or the other be crabby/weird with me later in life for circ'ing (or not circ'ing) one son & not the other?

I know its hard, but doing right by your next son really helps, even if it doesn't change what is already done. My youngest 2 (ages 3 and 14 months) are not and their 2 older brothers are (ages almost 11 and 9)

[Emmett's Mommy]

It makes me sad every time I read non-circ threads. I had my son circ'd but now wish I had had the info while trying making the decision. All my family and inlaws family are circ'd so that is what I went on, not doing research as I did for everything else. My inlaws are an ALL medical family, and the biggest issue and argument they gave was that he will NEVER get penile cancer. This is true, and cancer runs in the family, so we did it. I guess I should have joined this community while pregnant instead of after. I accept the fact he is, and will never bring it up unless he does, but now I don't know what to do if the next one is a boy, what a fight that will be, ahhh!

I just noticed all the other posts of mamas who feel like me. I feel not so alone anymore.

[guysmama]

When we were pregnant with DS my SIL (who was also preg) asked if we were going to circumcise him. DH said "yes" and I said "NO". DH's brother said that their son would not be getting circ'ed even though both he and DH are. DH asked why not and his brother (who is a doctor) pulled out one of their (SIL is also a doc) text books from med school and showed him pictures of a baby being circ'ed and then pictures of some that had issues. DH started to say something about "Well what about when he is older and he doesn't look like me blah blah blah" and BIL said "How often do you look at Dad's penis too see if it looks like ours/" Then SIL sealed the deal when she said "you know most insurances won't cover it." We are pretty thrifty

I lived in Sweden and out of my group of male friends only one was circ'ed and he said how he was always teased by the other boys for not having a foreskin. They actually would still joke with him about it saying "How do you get (insert girl friend's name) to have an orgasm with your broken penis?"

DH is circ'ed and has a definite loss of sensitivity and it is hard for him to climax. Since it takes him so long and I get sore so we have to use more lube sex can sometimes be a chore rather than a pleasure. Luckily he is very talented in other ways. (Sorry TMI!!)

I have been with both intact and not and go intact!! Wow and again
WOW.

My parents adopted three boys and one of them is circed. When he came over from India the foreskin had been badly damaged at the orphanage. My parents chose to have him circ'ed after taking him to several specialists. My mom said it was horrid cleaning it after it was done and that it looked very painful. I never knew any of this until I asked what she thought about circumcision. Her response was "Why? That would be like me saying "Oh Shalom won't need her nipples to breastfeed because I didn't breastfeed her." Then she told me about my younger brother. My mom doesn't cry, but I could tell she was really upset that they had to do it.

I am friends with a man who got circumcised as an adult do to a religious conversion. He said it was the most painful thing ever and that sex is not as enjoyable now as it was before. He said it is like wearing a thick condom because the sensations are so much less.

Keeping it clean is a snap. DS likes to wash it a lot.

I talk to lots of moms about it. I was very uneducated and probably would have had it done if it hadn't been for the first conversation with my mom and then getting the facts from three doctors. The doctor that we chose for DS said that her sons weren't and she would recommend to every parent not to do it.

DH and I were in the urologist's office and a mom came in with her son. They were sitting next to us and we started talking. He had been circ'ed and it had gone very wrong. His mother said that she would regret it for the rest of her life. I do not know how it went wrong as I didn't ask and they were called back soon after arriving. We could hear the poor boy screaming throughout the waiting room when they took him back to work on it.

I would never criticize anyone who did it to their son and not all are horror stories (but really that depends on your outlook) but for myself I am glad that people took the time to educate me.

[nursinmama]

What a great post!!! I'm the mama of 3 intact boys with a circ'd dh. I am PROUD to tell people that my sons are uncirc'd & love shooting down every "but what about" question they can muster up. I'm currently in RN school & have already had this come up several times. Needless to say, my classmates all now know how passionate I am on this subject.
Keep spreading the truth mamas!! So many moms get it done simply b/c "everyone does" & regret it when they find out the truth.
Paula