circumcision after care??

[WishfulX1]

Hi, firstly im not posting this for a debate on whether circumcision is 'right' or not I am looking for mummies to share their experience of the aftercare of their newborns penis.

My son was circumcised at age 2 for religious reasons (long waiting list in UK) if this one is a boy we are going to go private within the first 2 weeks of birth.

The questions I have are:

How was your baby immediately after his circumcision? that day/night? grumpy? perfectly normal? the days following?

How long until it was fully healed?

how did you care for it?

keep it dry? bathe him everynight? apply any creams?etc

you may wonder why imasking if my son has it.....as he was 2 the aftercare was slightly different. he was able to speak, he devloped an infection and it took abit longer than normal to heal (according to doctors) I got the wrong advice and bathed him everynight after it was done keeping it wet instead of letting it dry up!

any advice is appreciated.

thankyou x

 

[tismaila]

My son had it done at 4weeks its painful as you can see on his face the sreaming he was very uncomfortable get lots of painkillers calpol and sudo cream good luck

 

[aley28]

My sons had it done within 24 hours of birth. They were both very sleepy for the next 24 hours after it was done, but other than that they behaved perfectly normal, didn't seem overly fussy or anything. I gave Parker a couple drops of infant Tylenol that second night, but more because it looked like it must hurt than because he seemed bothered by it.

Can't remember exactly how long it took to heal... I know it was totally healed by 1 month, I think by 2 weeks it looked really good and didn't make me wince to look at it. The swelling went down considerably the first couple of days and was gone within a week and the redness must've been almost completely gone by 2 weeks. It took longer for his umbilical chord to fall off than it did for his penis to heal up.

As for care... I changed his diaper frequently to try to keep it dry and I spread a generous amount of Vaseline all over the front part of his diaper to keep it from sticking to his diaper. I didn't so much as touch his penis while it was healing (usually I aim it downwards into his diaper to help prevent leaking from the top). I didn't put any creams on it, I didn't wipe it off with anything, nothing. Just put vaseline on his diaper and tried to keep him in a dry diaper.

They'll probably tell you this when you get it done, but he'll get a gross orange-ish looking buildup on the part that's healing. This is normal and doesn't indicate an infection. Just leave it be and it'll clear up on its own. I think it appeared a few days after the circ was done. It looked really gross, but just keep in mind that its nothing bad.

 

[WishfulX1]

aley, thankyou so much for that!! Glad to know your boys acted almost completely normal! Thankyou again! x

 

[Breezy]

My DS was 6 weeks old when he was circ'd. He was in pain after the anesthetic wore off for about 2 minutes and then for the first diaper change. After that he didnt even notice it. I used neosporin every diaper change to make sure it did not rub. It was the plastibell method and it fell off within 7 days.

Since then we have had a few issues with it adhering back (Penile Adhesion) and the doctor had to pull back the skin twice forcefully as it was infected underneath. So now, every time I change him I put Aquaphor on it so it can not adhere again (per drs orders). Last time I posted this I was told I was wrong to pull the skin back and make sure the aquaphor was on it, but thaat has fixed the issue. DR said LO is just so chunky down there and the skin folds over and adheres.

 

[Donch03]

Hi there, my son was circumcised at 8 days old at home. It was really quick and after we just gave him a feed so settle him although he hardly cried...he was more upset by being undressed!! His penis was dressed and afterwards I just kept it dry....when the dressing was taken off after about 2 days whilst I bathed him he was completely normal not bothered by it not fussy etc. I just put lots of sudocrem on his penis and in the nappy and things were more or less healed after 4 days. X

 

[MoonMelody]

We were going to have LO circumcised at 8 days old (per Jewish tradition), but it was done at 2 weeks old as he had jaundice during his first week of life.

He cried during the procedure, but it was due to being held down. He hated that! I nursed him after, and he calmed down within a few minutes.

Aftercare consisted of changing a simple dressing of gauze and vaseline with every nappy change for the first few days. After three days, we bathed him. Once he'd had that first post-circ bath, the dressing was no longer needed. DH and I just kept his penis clean and dry, and applied an antibiotic ointment once a day.

LO was totally healed three weeks after the procedure. Happy chappy.

 

[Michieb]

My son was done within 24 hours of being born - he was sleepy that day - but never cried (we were not present for the procedure) after that was just vaseline - was fine within 2 or 3 weeks

 

[ValentinesGal]

DS had his circumcision done the day after he was born. Also, very sleepy for 24 hours...it was a struggle to get him to even wake to eat. Didn't seem too bothered by it. Put LOTS of vaseline in the front of his diaper to help and it healed within a week or maybe a little longer. Didn't need to do anything else to care for it other than keep the area clean when doing diaper changes. The only time he acted like it bothered him was occassionally when he'd wee, but Dr. said that was completely normal. I agree with Aley about the orange stuff...just part of the healing process.

 

[summer rain]

It really depends if they are doing the traditional method or plastibell; in the UK most circumcision surgeons doing plastibell will advise bathing the baby daily (but leaving a good 24 hours or so after it is done) in a very mild antiseptic solution (literally a couple of drops of antiseptic in the bath), some will give you sachets of an antiseptic bath wash specifically for this purpose. They also say to wash the area after every nappy change by squeezing a cotton wool ball with water on out over the area and then gently patting dry. Some also give you a gel similar to vaseline but it has a slight numbing effect as it has a gentle local anaesthetic in it, I was advised not to put normal vaseline on the wound as it could block pores and trap any dirt or germs and all my boys healed really well within a week to 10 days. Some surgeons will also prescribe preventative antibiotics for your baby, I personally would not give these as they tend to be incredibly strong full spectrum antibiotics more commonly used for persistent UTIs and chest infections and you're likely to end up with thrush in your baby (and him passing it to you if BF) and they can cause severe tummy upset also-the very small risk of infection if the wound is cared for properly isn't worth it IMHO xx

 

[leahsbabybump]

my son was done at a few weeks old we bathed it with warm salty water he was very sleepy for a while after may be to do with the painkillers etc :-/ x'fob got him done due to his religious beliefs i this bubs is a buy though we wont be doing it as OH has differant religious beliefs

 

[maddog37]

My son also had his done 8 days after the birth at IL's home. He slept through the whole thing. We put some numbing cream in the area about an hour before, then about 20-30 minutes before, he had 2 needles to the balls for numbing. THAT he cried for.

He was perfectly fine after, maybe slightly grumpier on the day of. I basically just had to pull things back and inspect so nothing gets stuck, clean, and lots of vaseline on a gauze and put gauze over penis each time for 1 week.

And I found that he tended to pee on me every time I touched his penis with a cloth that week. Other than that, it was just painful to look at the first few days.

 

[WishfulX1]

It really depends if they are doing the traditional method or plastibell; in the UK most circumcision surgeons doing plastibell will advise bathing the baby daily (but leaving a good 24 hours or so after it is done) in a very mild antiseptic solution (literally a couple of drops of antiseptic in the bath), some will give you sachets of an antiseptic bath wash specifically for this purpose. They also say to wash the area after every nappy change by squeezing a cotton wool ball with water on out over the area and then gently patting dry. Some also give you a gel similar to vaseline but it has a slight numbing effect as it has a gentle local anaesthetic in it, I was advised not to put normal vaseline on the wound as it could block pores and trap any dirt or germs and all my boys healed really well within a week to 10 days. Some surgeons will also prescribe preventative antibiotics for your baby, I personally would not give these as they tend to be incredibly strong full spectrum antibiotics more commonly used for persistent UTIs and chest infections and you're likely to end up with thrush in your baby (and him passing it to you if BF) and they can cause severe tummy upset also-the very small risk of infection if the wound is cared for properly isn't worth it IMHO xx

Hi, thank you very much for your advise and everyone else!!! It's very helpful!! Do you mid if I ask where your sons got theres done? Looks like travelling to London is my only option but then there is a lot there! Diffilcult to know which one to use!!

Thank you all again!! X

 

[summer rain]

PMed you hun xx