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Circumcision Advice

198 replies

Bylamplight · 02/08/2019 21:54

My little one is due to be circumcised next week, does anyone have any good hints or tips for keeping him comfortable after?

OP posts:
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 02:24

This isn't addressed to you, OP, as it sounds like you've had several opinions, but there are a HUGE amount of medical professionals out there with various hidden agendas, who will claim completely falsely that a circumcision is necessary for medical reasons.

Yes, there are indeed valid medical reasons why a baby boy might need a circumcision, but the sheer number of doctors who either don't understand the absolute basics about anatomy or who are otherwise lying is staggering. A boy's foreskin often does NOT retract until he approaches puberty - this is entirely normal.

Citing it as a medical reason for a circumcision, which is frighteningly common, is as absurd as raising the alarm because a baby girl isn't having periods or showing any sign of breast development.

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 02:38

OP: Advice for aftercare circumcision
MNers: Only if you're doing it for medical reasons otherwise you're the devil
OP: It's for medical reasons
MNers: Not sure that's medical enough

Ignore them OP. My friend had her baby circumcised for non-medical reasons circa 2 months. Lots of cuddles, Vaseline. He was fine a week later. Good luck.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 03:02

Ignore them OP. My friend had her baby circumcised for non-medical reasons circa 2 months. Lots of cuddles, Vaseline. He was fine a week later. Good luck.

Aside from the issue of a baby in nappies no longer having his natural infection barrier from poo, the pain and bleeding will subside (although a week is a very long time in a 2-month-old's life).

However, this misses the whole point in that the foreskin is primarily there for the sexual pleasure of an adult man.

Asserting that the baby is 'fine', ostensibly for the rest of his life, is the equivalent of asserting that an insurance policy is unquestionably 100% perfect for your needs and the very best one that you could have bought - before you've ever been in a position of needing to make a claim. Actually, it's not the equivalent, as many people don't ever need to claim on insurance whereas most males will grow up and want to enjoy normal sexual relations.

Depending on the level of the mutilation, once the initial pain has subsided, many young victims of FGM arguably don't experience many negative effects and probably seem 'fine' - until periods, sex, pregnancy and childbirth come into play.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:04

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I'm uninterested.

catofdoom · 03/08/2019 03:07

@PatricksRum well then your friend is a child maiming abuser.

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:08

Did you know that the SIDS risk babies who have been breastfed for two months is halved.
Formula fed babies are twice as likely to die from SIDS compared to breastfed babies.
Yet when it comes to formula feeding everyone is, "it's not your baby" "mum knows best" "happy mum = happy baby" "I tried" "mind your own business"
Anyone got any figures for death in circumcised babies vs non?

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:08

@catofdoom I'd say I'd let them know, but like me, uninterested.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 03:12

Fair enough, then, @PatricksRum - that's entirely your choice.

As you don't go on to say why you're uninterested, I can only assume that it's because you see the mutilation of a baby's genitals for no reason as of no consequence or importance at all, in which case, we're never going to find any common ground for agreement.

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:15

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll uninterested in your attempt to understand my thought process.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 03:21

What a bizarre comparison to draw.

The fact is that, thankfully, most babies are NOT subject to SIDS. Preferring to formula-feed your baby (and it isn't always actually a choice for some parents - PCOS leading to no milk production, widowed fathers etc, to name just two) might well lead to an increased risk factor of SIDS.

The risk of baby boys whose parents choose to circumcise them ending up with lifelong mutilated genitals and reduced sexual function as adults is 1 in 1.

True, most babies don't die as the result of a circumcision. They probably wouldn't actually die if you poked out their eyes or ripped off their ears, but try finding anybody who would endorse routinely doing that.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 03:25

@PatricksRum - OK, I'll leave it there, then. You obviously have your own thought processes and have no interest in elaborating on them, so there's no further discussion to be had with you on this discussion board.

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:26

t isn't always actually a choice

True, I'll include the 95-99% of women who do have a choice.

most babies don't die as the result of a circumcision

Ah ok but 50% more die as a result of formula feeding. Ñ

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 03:37

I'm absolutely baffled by your logic.

There are endless official campaigns to encourage breastfeeding and to discourage/shame those who choose/have no option but to use formula.

Whatever does that have to do with mutilating babies?

The fact is that babies have to be fed by one means or another, or they will definitely die. No baby who didn't need it for genuine medical reasons ever died from having his penis left naturally intact.

Although SIDS is a horrific thing to happen, all babies who don't succumb to it (the vast majority) are not personally affected by it at all in later life. All babies who are circumcised ARE affected by it in later life.

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:50

All babies who are circumcised ARE affected by it in later life.

Source please

PatricksRum · 03/08/2019 03:53

Posted too soon.

There are endless official campaigns

Not talking about official campaigns.

I'm comparing opinions (in the UK) on circumcision and the after effects and the opinions on ff.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 05:05

All babies who are circumcised ARE affected by it in later life.

Source please

Source = common sense. Having something that serves a clear purpose (or will in later life) and having it taken from you without your having any say in the matter will obviously affect your life. This is manifest whether it's a foreskin, a hand, the default right to a driving licence, the right to marry, a trust fund etc.

If you are querying the extent to which a person will be affected by a circumcision, again common sense dictates that permanently losing thousands of nerve-endings means that a great deal of sensation will never be enjoyed.

As somebody with severe neuropathy throughout my body, which began after I had become an adult, I know very well what the negative effects are when nerves die and can no longer work.

Additionally, there are countless websites that tell of men's experiences and emotional struggles at having had an important part of their body permanently removed for no good reason, long before they had any knowledge or say in it.

Personally, I believe that medically-unnecessary circumcision is only considered in any way acceptable or benign as it is usually done long before the person whose body it is would be in a position to benefit as a sexually-mature adult from his normally-functioning intact body and thus can never fully appreciate what he has lost.

Of course, if a grown man with mental capacity should wish to be circumcised for any reason, even though there is no medical need for it, I would have no problem with his decision to do so. I can't for the life of me understand why people have tattoos and bizarre body piercings and modifications, but as long as they are adults and not vulnerable, it's totally their choice.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/08/2019 05:09

Not talking about official campaigns.

I'm comparing opinions (in the UK) on circumcision and the after effects and the opinions on ff.

Fair enough, then. I still don't see, though, why the one is connected in any way to the other. If you believe that choosing to FF is morally wrong, why does that make circumcision any better or worse?

Or do you think that, if somebody 'hates their baby' so much that they want to 'endanger his life' by FF him, they may as well just go the whole hog as abusive parents and chop random bits off him as well?

NeverGotMyPuppy · 03/08/2019 06:23

I've been on these threads before and you can never win.

All I will say is that I'm baffled that anyone can justify this procedure for non medical reasons. Its 2019 ffs. It boggles the mind.
As has been pointed out many times on here, male circumcision is more extreme than the least extreme FGM. So we should be allowing that because that's logical.

No? Not OK? Funny that.

Nosquit · 03/08/2019 06:24

The thing with the comparison with bottle and breast feeding and SIDS deaths: The study that was carried out (all articles I found about it seemed to link to just ONE study) only showed a correlation between the two and not a concrete causation. (Yes bottle fed babies may sleep more deeply but other factors do not seem to have been taken into account) Wheras with complications due to circumcision there is a causation.

You can’t compare the two really.

feelingverylazytoday · 03/08/2019 06:54

Just follow the post op advice you will be given OP, and other than that do the usual things you do to comfort your baby.

Aceinthehole · 03/08/2019 07:29

@Mummoomoocow it was quite a long time ago now, as I say, he was 16 months at the time and he's now 8. He was circumcised due to congenital megaprepuce, and we were hugely relieved for the intervention.

He had a plastic cover on it for the first 24 hours, and then that just came off. We let it air as much as possible, and honestly, in a couple of days he was back to his usual happy self. I think more than anything the general anaesthetic affected him more than the procedure or recovery.

Wishing all those having the procedure luck. Those who are up in arms without knowing any of the facts, cool your jets.

flappi · 03/08/2019 08:38

FagashJackie the Medical profession and the law in this country allows male circumcision .its routinely done in America .

If you don’t like it , don’t answer this thread. It’s none of your business what OP chooses to do with her child .

Live and let live. If you don’t like OPs religious practice , then that is not your problem. The world renowned medical profession and the Uk government allow make circumcision and have done so for many years .

Why do people think that their personal dislike for something means they have to be rude to others and shove their INTOLERANT views down other people’s throats ?

Be respectful to other people’s religions and cultures . You should’ve learnt this sort of stuff in primary school .

Fucksandflowers · 03/08/2019 08:39

Quite disgusted at this thread.

How dare anyone compare it to FGM for a start!
Circumcised men still have plenty of feeling and enjoy sexual relationships.
Hardly any women on the other hand can orgasm without clitoral stimulation.
The two are just not comparable.

My DH is circumcised, he had it done about 7 I think and it was a very painful, traumatic experience as the older you are the more difficult an operation it is.

If your child has a predisposition to a medical condition that will require circumcision as an older child/teenager the kindest thing is to curcumsize as a baby when it's a really easy operation and will heal quickly with minimal pain.

Some of the vicious comments on here must make mothers who have had to circumcise their boys feel really shit.

NeverGotMyPuppy · 03/08/2019 08:45

@fucksandflowers butnuts true. FGM has degrees - the least bad is not as dramatic as male circumcision. I 'dared'to because it's true.

Obviously anything for medical necessity is a necessity and parents are doing exactly as they should be.

LittleKitty1985 · 03/08/2019 08:57

@Fucksandflowers The average male circumcision has a greater impact on sexual pleasure than the average case of FGM. & yet we only call the latter mutilation Hmm