Mumsnet Talk

ds's paed said his foreskin looked a bit tight and that i should be retracting it in the bath to help. he is 5 months old.

I told a family member + they looked it up on a paediatrics website (a canadian one - we are canadian) + said that this was unnecessary + an urban myth.

did you/do you/were you told to? do this to your baby sons? i am doing it on the basis of 'it can't hurt' butwant to know.

fwiw neither my hv or community mw said anything about this!

From what I have read it is quite normal for the foreskin to not be able to retract until around 2 years of age. I wouldn't be at all worried about it unless he was older and it was looking very sore and causing him pain. Surely trying to retract it before it's ready might cause pain? Not sure but this advice might be a kind of hangover of the over zealous circumcision of the last 100 years as in seeing the foreskin a problem and needing assistance?

I was told under no circumstances to mess around with the foreskin as it can damage it. But then I'm not a dr!

My understanding was DON'T try to retract the foreskin as it can cause pain & damage.

If your DS gets an infection, or recurrent infection (balanitis), then the advice may be different, but I wouldn't go messing with it just because one Dr thought it 'looked a bit tight'!

From the time your son discovers his own willy it will be his aim in life to retract it himself

we've never had anyone tell us to mess with his bits! does it look tight?
could it be something to do with circumcision being more common where you are and doctors not being happy just to leave their bits alone?

Gosh I thought it was still attached to the glands and so should be left well alone.

However, you paed should be more qualified than me and if you are in doubt why not request a second opinion?

leave the foreskin alone!! step away from the foreskin!!!

it's perfectly normal for it to be attached at 5 months!!

just wash it like you would wash his leg and as he gets older he will fiddle with it himself and it will detach.

if you start fiddling with it you will make him sore.

From what I understand, the foreskin is attached to the glans when they're very little. Over time it separates and at some point before the age of five it gets to the point where it can be retracted. Little boys spend a lot of time stretching their foreskin which helps the separation process (and feels pleasant apparently )

I really don't think you should be messing around with his bits at that age.

Oh and what Omni says!

I was told to leave it alone!

I had three girls before ds and asked the GP at the 6 week if I should be doing anything with his bits. She said apart from normal washing, don't go pulling or poking at anything as he'll be doing enough of that himself when he's older

ok this is what i thought, thanks ladies. he has no probs weeing + the stream comes out ok. i am in the uk, it was a uk paed who said retract, in canada they say hands off!

Ds, 3, has recently developed the ability of pulling his foreskin back and said the other day 'Look mummy, look at my brown willy!" It's not brown in case you were worried, he's just not 100% with he's colours yet, he's busy, erm, developing new skills. Exactly how do you respond to an excited 3 year old who says that? None of my parenting manuals cover this?

My DS (6 months) has a foreskin that is too tight. We know this because his willy "balloons" just before he wees. We were told NOT to do anything in case of causing damage. So leave well alone!

boolifooli - I would probably have said "Wow! That's clever!"

The ballooning is quite common, and it doesn't mean there is any problem, just that the detachment process is happening.

Never never ever retract a foreskin, you might do serious damage and there is no need to do it.

my son had a very tight foreskin and his consultant advised me to gently retract it in the bath. It was so tight that he developed a deposit under the foreskin which caused really smelly problems. In the end the consultant told me i had to do it daily and had to put betnovate cream on to help the release of this so called cheesey deposit.It loosened his foreskin and now he is able to clean properly

How old was you ds when you were having to put the cream on etc? I think that charming substance is called smegma. Such a lovely word!

thank you i couldnt remember what it was called ,but it started to bend his willy due to not being able to retravt the foreskin. I think he was about 6-7

EEEWWWW it is a horrible word...why didnt i remember it

When I had my DS, I was complete amazed at the lack of advice in baby/child books on how to look after male bits. You'd think that little boys were all smooth like Barbie's Ken, going by the amount of coverage it gets given.

6-7 years that is

It's why I could never have a Smeg fridge, that and the price tag of course!

i always think of that when i see them too...and i wouldnt have one for that reason either.how funny....thank god i dont like the style..it looks like my old grannies