circumcision?

[djbutton01]

we're team yellow, so i don't even know if we're going to have to worry about this choice with this baby, but i've got a lot of mixed feelings about circumcision if our lil sprout does happen to be a boy. usually i'm so set in and sure about my decisions, so my inability to decide is making me very anxious. just looking for some good, sound, sensible opinions either for or against circumcision.

(no judgments or criticisms on the statements or choices of others in this thread, please.)

This is just food for thought. One of my nephews lived in an area where ticks and all kinds of other critters live. Once a tick managed to get under the foreskin and start feeding on him while he was outside playing. His grandmother had to pull the foreskin back when he was 8 or 9 to properly get the tick out and care for the bite. I also had a foster child who was not circumsized and he had a bout with diarrhea and kept getting under the foreskin. I had to pull the foreskin back because it was getting irritated. Granted this was akward because of the strict fostercare rules but it was needed to prevent further infection. I circumsized my son for 2 reasons. The first was because my husband/his daddy is and also for the cleanliness factor. Once they are older they can handle it themselves but younger it falls on you and sometime the foreskin is tight and does not like to pull back easily. I guess it depends on the person.

 

[kayyheyy]

My baby will be circumcised

 

[flamingpanda]

I never understand the "cleanliness" reason. There are lots of areas of my body that would get dirty and festering if I didn't clean them. Saying that though I'm not going to chop my arms off just so my arm pits get a bit more air. Good hygiene is an important thing to teach a child.

Beyond medical reasons (which we all know are rare), religious reasons (which I'm not going near) or an aspiring porn career I'm not sure I can see any reason for it.

We're team pink but if we were blue it's not even something that would be discussed. In fact I can imagine the look of horror on my partner's face if I were to bring it up!

 

[Kitsch]

We don't really do this in the UK, I didn't realise how common place it was in other countries. We just found out we're having a boy but this didn't even cross my mind. I don't think we will be doing it, but if it became a necessity in later life then I would have no problem doing it then.

 

[JCh]

I was actually surprised this was posted at all as it can be pretty controversial....

I'm having a hard time, I was raised that it doesn't need to be done and it causes unnecessary harm to ur baby. Of course DH is and said his child NEEDS to be....
I'm really struggling with this as I do not agree with it and it isn't a requirement for any reason. I've been with both types and un seem to actually enjoy it much more.

So this may be something on-going as I don't think I'll change my opinion or want to be there while it's getting done.....

 

[babybambi2011]

i have no advice to give as i have a girl and another on the way.

i think maybe you should go to a doctor and talk to them about it, get all the facts about having it done, the pro's and con's ect and then you will be able to make a decision based on the information your doctor gives you.

everything is about choice, but you have to have all the right information before you go and make a decision... same with getting a car. you wouldnt get a car without knowing its specs and cost ect.

good luck

 

[JCh]

I'm still hoping we can be team pink and avoid this decision all together- kinda don't think that's gonna happen tho.... I have a pretty strong team blue feeling....

 

[Chezzz]

I was actually surprised this was posted at all as it can be pretty controversial....

I'm having a hard time, I was raised that it doesn't need to be done and it causes unnecessary harm to ur baby. Of course DH is and said his child NEEDS to be....
I'm really struggling with this as I do not agree with it and it isn't a requirement for any reason. I've been with both types and un seem to actually enjoy it much more.

So this may be something on-going as I don't think I'll change my opinion or want to be there while it's getting done.....

Me and OH had a similar debate over a totally different subject (christenings.. were both non religous.. whole new topic) we decided since I/whoever didnt want it.. than that was more important than making me do something that I didnt agree with in our situation. if that makes sense... for us.. not cutting was never an issue though.. as its not common her in the UK

 

[Viperbunny]

My DH and I decided if we had a boy we would circumcise. We are having a little girl, so it's none issue. It is a personal choice. I do agree that it helps prevent the spread of disease and I have never heard anything against it from people who are circumcised, it that helps.

Funny story. My husband and I had been dating over a year and he asks me if he's circumcised. I have no clue. His is the first I have ever seen. I tell him to ask his mother. He is mortified and says no. I tell him to ask his dad and again, it was a no. We had to look it up online. He was, lol. He had a moment of realization and proclaimed "that's the foreskin? I thought that was a deformed penis!"

If it bothers you, you don't have to do it. I have heard more pros than cons on the subject, but it is a matter of personal choice and your baby will be okay either way.

 

[MommaDucky]

We are debating still, mildly. I'm really hopeful that come fri we willl found out we are having another girl and I wont have to deal with this at all. Initially with my daughter (had she been a boy) I had just left it up to my husband and because he is cut he said he wanted the baby to be cut because then he could know how to teach the baby to clean it and take care of it, it came down to he doesn't know how to take care of an intact penis and was worried that even if he was explained how to that he still would miss something.

Now, I am strongly leaning against. ED runs in the family, my husband even at 32 has had some issues with ED, and there is a lot of material out there that suggests that there is an increased rate of ED in cut men. So I worry that he may have genetics playing a role and then we increase the chance of issues, and that was hard and spoke to my husband a lot.

I think when we find out friday the conversation is either going to be dropped all they way (hopefully!) or we will really get into it and go talk to the Ped and read some more.

 

[TattooedMamma]

I would never dream of mutilating my baby.. I wouldn't cut of a baby girls bits, so why would I do it to a baby boy?

Hygiene reasons... I will teach my child (whatever sex) to wash properly and often.. isn't that what parents do?

Religious reasons.. even if I was the MOST religious person on earth ever it would still be a big fat NO. I can do without that particular religion if they insisted on hurting my baby!

STI prevention.. what the actual heck???? No one should be sleeping around, circumcised or non-circumcised. Condoms exist!

Looks.. wow, just wow! I can't actually believe that someone would cut off a babies bits and put them through completely unnecessary pain just because they think it looks good???!!!!

It's bad enough when my baby had to go through painful procedures to save their life nevermind for the selfish reasons above.
In my opinion it should be completely illegal.

 

[caggimedicine]

I have also read that it helps with spread of disease and that it makes infections less likely later in life. Of course, it does have its risks (they are acute, they happen right away or don't.)

This has no medical backing whatsoever.
You are not more / less likely to contract / spread diseases depending on if you have foreskin or not, and I think it's really irresponsible to suggest that if you're circumcised, you could escape diseases. Protected sex (e.g. using condoms) is the only proven method of significantly reducing the risk of spreading infectious diseases.

Also - re risks related to circumcision - I also don't think you can say that problems are either immediate or not at all, particularly if circumcision happens very early on in life before the child reaches adulthood and has finished growing.

 

[oh_so_blessed]

I have also read that it helps with spread of disease and that it makes infections less likely later in life. Of course, it does have its risks (they are acute, they happen right away or don't.)

This has no medical backing whatsoever.
You are not more / less likely to contract / spread diseases depending on if you have foreskin or not, and I think it's really irresponsible to suggest that if you're circumcised, you could escape diseases. Protected sex (e.g. using condoms) is the only proven method of significantly reducing the risk of spreading infectious diseases.

Also - re risks related to circumcision - I also don't think you can say that problems are either immediate or not at all, particularly if circumcision happens very early on in life before the child reaches adulthood and has finished growing.

First link... (about HIV)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=circumcision-penis-microbiome-hiv-infection

Abstract for study about UTI prevention:
https://adc.bmj.com/content/90/8/853.abstract

Now, whether or not to do it based on that is another thing. I am not advocating one way or another, as you could see from my carefully worded post. I simply provided some of the arguments for it. I will say that you can teach safe sex and still have people not follow it. I didn't. My OH didn't. We are very lucky. We both knew about condoms, so it wasn't as though we weren't taught, we were just adrenaline junkies. Now, it could be argued in such a case that if there is any way to reduce risk, go for it. But, this is the same argument as pro/con vaccinations, imo. Preventative medicine that may have side-effects. Each parent must make that call themselves.

As to the risks, mainly they are acute. I have read of circumcisions being too tight, so I guess that's something to talk to your doctor about before the procedure. I have, however, read that mostly this ends up stretching. Don't know for sure. Like I've said, I've "been around" and have seen a lot of circumcised and I've never seen a guy in pain from it being too tight. jme.

Cheers,

 

[Redhead84]

I'm with the no's.

We are also team yellow but if a boy we won't even be considering it, unless absolutely medically necessary.

It's a cruel practice in my opinion, but there are obviously many who disagree.

 

[daisy72]

Well, when speaking about diseases, it is not just about STDs. There are some researches that prove correlation between cervical cancer in women and circumcision of their OH-s. In wives/partners of circumcised men cervical cancer is more rare than in partners of not cut men.

 

[bexxc]

wow! thank you so much for all the responses! i've actually already done quite a bit of research on this and discussed it (though not in depth) with dh. i'm leaning toward no and he's leaning toward yes. i really appreciate all the facts, feelings, opinions, and experiences that you've all shared with me. dh and i still have a bit of talking to do before a final decision is made, but you've all been VERY helpful!
thanks again!

 

[Sparrow85]

It's something that completely baffles me. I realise it's a cultural/religious practice so I suppose I shouldn't really say what I think about it.

It's just not the done thing in the UK and my little man will certainly not be having it done.

 

[destynibaby]

definitely circumsizing. it has never been a question or a debate not to.

 

[1eighty]

Well, when speaking about diseases, it is not just about STDs. There are some researches that prove correlation between cervical cancer in women and circumcision of their OH-s. In wives/partners of circumcised men cervical cancer is more rare than in partners of not cut men.

There are also studies that show absolutely no link between male circumcision and cervical cancer. The only definitive thing you can say about cervical cancer is that if a woman has a particular strain of HPV then she is at an increased risk of developing the disease, hence the vaccinations against HPV of young girls in the UK in recent years.

TBH, that kind of thing is exceptionally hard to prove as there are so many different factors that increase a person's susceptibility to cancer and should not be the sole reason someone opts to circumcise their son.

*hops off soap box*

 

[oh_so_blessed]

Well, when speaking about diseases, it is not just about STDs. There are some researches that prove correlation between cervical cancer in women and circumcision of their OH-s. In wives/partners of circumcised men cervical cancer is more rare than in partners of not cut men.

There are also studies that show absolutely no link between male circumcision and cervical cancer. The only definitive thing you can say about cervical cancer is that if a woman has a particular strain of HPV then she is at an increased risk of developing the disease, hence the vaccinations against HPV of young girls in the UK in recent years.

TBH, that kind of thing is exceptionally hard to prove as there are so many different factors that increase a person's susceptibility to cancer and should not be the sole reason someone opts to circumcise their son.

*hops off soap box*

I must say I was with you until the last part of the last sentence. ime, things that are being researched should be a red flag. No, there may not be definitive evidence that doing X causes Y, but if it is being researched one must consider that it may indeed be the case and make the choice with that consideration in mind. There are studies both ways on the circumcision thing, some say there are links between it and prevention of some diseases, infections, etc, others say they find no link... but at this point, there is still research going on so nothing is 100% definitive. It is not irresponsible for a mother to make the decision to do the circumcision because she is concerned that if she doesn't do it her baby will be more at risk later for infections, etc. At the same time, a mother that decides to forego the circumcision should not be faulted, either, as there are risks involved with surgery of any kind. Both of these mothers feel they are doing the best for her kid after weighing both sides, and neither can at this point be 100% proven wrong. jmo.