Circumcision Advice

[Bylamplight]

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

There's an excellent documentary on Netflix called American Circumcision, it's very interesting and informative (but be warned, it also made me cry)

How dare anyone compare it to FGM for a start!

The comparison is because when it’s done for cultural reasons it’s unnecessary medical intervention on a child who can’t consent.

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

I'll just go and tell my circumcised DH that. He'll laugh his socks off.

I love how these WOMEN who don’t have a penis are so absolutely certain that circumcision causes sexual problems and that men are psychologically affected by it. Just not at all true in my experience of all men in my family and pretty much every man I know being circumcised and who are very happy they have been

I can’t comment on the sexual side of it because I don’t have a penis so I have no i

In my opinion you should not even be considering mutilating your child's genitals and there should be a law against it whatever the reason.

Unless it’s for medical reasons, I’m surprised that any doctor would carry out what is essentially genital mutilation on someone who is not old enough to make that decision for themselves. The sooner this practice is made illegal the better.

@PatricksRum there have been some cases of babies having their penises cut off accidentally during the circumcision procedure or dying. And circumcision is mutilation on a child who cannot consent.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html&ved=2ahUKEwj2gOXeuubjAhUQExQKHbZhBqc4FBAWMAB6BAgFEAE&usg=AOvVaw2EFzfSuIB6VruNOT4Y7Lil" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html&ved=2ahUKEwj2gOXeuubjAhUQExQKHbZhBqc4FBAWMAB6BAgFEAE&usg=AOvVaw2EFzfSuIB6VruNOT4Y7Lil

I must admit, I was slightly aghast when a work colleague mentioned yesterday that he'd been present at a circumcision of a friend's baby early that morning - not that it's done, which I kinda accept it's their religion - but the fact that it's actually celebrated ...

If religion is the reason, surely a huge pointer is that God made Adam with a foreskin? If men weren't meant to have them, God wouldn't have put one there in the first place ....[Tongue firmly in cheek as I am an atheist]

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

This is perfectly true, as they can't have it reversed. Whether they are happy with it as grown men or not, it has changed their body forever. Doing so for reasons other than medical before they can consent to it is wrong.

Source = common sense.

I'll await proper studies. It'd be interesting to inform friends and family what battles lie ahead

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

I'll just go and tell my circumcised DH that. He'll laugh his socks off.*

@Joh66 Why are you tagging me in that?

The comments on here are disgusting.
Op has said it's for medical purposes. So your debate is not needed.
Previous to that everyone jumped on her aggressively without knowing the facts. I hope you don't do that in RL, just barge all over people with your righteous opinions.

To those saying well if it's medical it doesn't matter what everyone's saying.
Yes it does, she has to do something for her child, that she's worried about, no one wants their child to be in pain. She's asking for advice and it's just a load of horrible answers at her and articles about how men are traumatised or lost their penis or something.
Come on now.

Also yes those things happen, yes those things should never happen to people, but alot of men are circumcised and this is a tiny fraction of the number, let's be realistic.

And to the people who compared this to fgm, you should firstly be a ashamed of yourself, and secondly pick up a book. Do some research. It is not the same.

Put Vaseline in his nappy so that his private’s don’t get stuck on the nappy and no friction.

Clean with cotton wool and warm water.

Give him cool baths. And just give it 2 weeks to heal.

He will be fine I promise.

I don't think people are bashing the op, if it's for a medical need then that is out of necessity for the best interests of the child, and I hope all goes well op.

It turns into a debate because others turn up who seem to find it hilarious that many people are upset and appalled that parents would choose to put their child through unnecessary surgery on their child before they can consent to it.

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

I'll just go and tell my circumcised DH that. He'll laugh his socks off.

Why would he do that? Does he not understand the meaning of the word ‘affected’? Some men are traumatised by it, many are not, some who had it done when young for genuine medical reasons or as adults for whatever reason will consider that the procedure affected them for the better. To most, it is just their normal as they had it done long before they became sexually active and so have no way of comparing or knowing what might have been.

Even so, all are unquestionably affected. If you live in the UK and the government increased VAT by 1%, you quite probably wouldn’t be traumatised or plunged into penury by it, but you undeniably WOULD be affected by this action instigated on your life by a third party over which you have no control.

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 .

So do you respect cultures across the world where FGM is accepted as the norm and a good thing to do?

Even governments across the western world have allowed and accepted many things as normal, but have now been soundly put right by popular opinion. Black people in the US were not allowed to use drinking fountains that whites used or to sit on the bus if a white person wanted their seat. Were Rosa Parks and her brave contemporaries just intolerant trouble-makers? Emmeline Pankhurst and the other women demanding the right to vote - just making a scene for the sake of it?

I couldn't care less if a grown man chooses to be circumcised for any reason whatsoever - it's just a case of standing up for babies who have no voice and no way of stopping irreversible mutilation of their bodies.

I love how these WOMEN who don’t have a penis are so absolutely certain that circumcision causes sexual problems and that men are psychologically affected by it. Just not at all true in my experience of all men in my family and pretty much every man I know being circumcised and who are very happy they have been

I can’t comment on the sexual side of it because I don’t have a penis so I have no i

Aside from the fact that you don't know whether most people posting here are actually men or women, the internet has countless accounts of men discussing how it has affected them. As most were circumcised as babies, they have no way of comparing how it might have affected their sexual enjoyment; but the feeling of betrayal and incompleteness that they had something taken away from them forever, for no reason, by the very people whose job it was to protect and keep them safe, is widespread. For most men who were circumcised, it's just always been their normal and they never think to question it.

Do you also scoff at men who come out against FGM, because they have 'no possible way' of knowing if it even affects the victim adversely, not having female genitalia themselves?

For that matter, do you laugh at 'wimpy' men who try to show care and consideration to their pregnant wives, because they can never actually know what it's like to be pregnant?

Op ignore the derailing debates. Quite disrespectful seeing how you explained your reasoning and people’s just vomiting facts that make your decision feel harder.

I know 6 men who say it's deeply effected them and have this chosen not to have their sons circumcised. Four of them feel very angry towards their parents.

I'd say half of my friend's boys here are not circumcised. And some friends that had older sons done are now choosing not to have subsequent sons done. It's definitely shifting and becoming frowned on.

My son had a dorsal slit at 16, an operation to lose the foreskin, as it was way too tight, always had been. We'd started seeing at dr when he was 7, because, you know, it would be horrible to have done as a teenager!

Given that you're doing it OP on the chance of a later need, go with @Seahorseshoe advice here, you don't need to do it as young, it's just as safe to do it later, there are probably other medical options. Circumcision when your son is old enough to consent himself is not necessarily horrible, it wasn't for me, but yes I would much rather still have a foreskin for all sorts of reasons.

Obviously your DH has his own experiences which are influencing the decision, but it's still a decision I would postpone if it is not causing actual current need, there really isn't a big advantage.

Op ignore the derailing debates. Quite disrespectful seeing how you explained your reasoning and people’s just vomiting facts that make your decision feel harder.

As has been said, nobody is criticising the OP for assisting her son with a necessary medical procedure. As so often happens, a thread expands and the debate widens - as you'd expect on an online forum with thousands of contributors.

FGM is FEMALE genital mutilation . It is NOT a religious practice . This is NOT what this thread is about .

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

YOU and some others here need to respect OPs lawful and religious or otherwise decision to circumcise her son . Which is perfectly legal in the UK.

If you want to start another thread about your views on FGM then go create another thread .

As the mother of a boy who is probably going to need circumcising as an adult (tight foreskin, genetic trait in the male side of my family, all immediate male members have been circumcised for this reason) I wish they’d done it when I first raised the concern as an 18 month old baby where he would have no memory of it being done. Because they didn’t he will have to suffer the memory of it if/when he has it done as an adult..and I highly suspect that he will need it-he has an obviously tight foreskin.

I assume that the op is going through a similar set of circumstances and therefore I see her point.

Having said all that, I am against circumcision as a religious practice, or as a “well everyone else does it” practice.

Yes , well.

It doesn’t matter what you are ‘for ‘ or ‘against ‘ in what is actually lawful religious practice . That’s not what this thread is about .