Mums with circumcised boys

[WaitTillFebruary]

Hi,
I'm due in the second week of February and am expecting a baby boy. This will be our second boy and my husband and I have decided to have him circumcised as soon as possible after he is born.
We have gathered that circumcision is not available in the NHS unless for medical reasons. This leaves us going down the private route, which is a path we are unfamiliar with.
Does anyone have any advice as to where one can go (preferably in London) to have one's newborn baby boy circumcised privately?

I don't think that you should include prevention of AIDS in your list of the "justifications" you reject for circumcision, Magnificent, as there is evidence that circumcision substantially reduces the risk of men acquiring HIV from heterosexual intercourse. Here is a page from the WHO website about it:

www.who.int/hiv/topics/malecircumcision/en/

Of course, in making this point I am NOT saying that this is a good reason for routine circumcision of boys who will live in London (I don't have any considered view about that, really), or that this is relevant to the OP's circumstances. Only that you can't lump HIV prevention in with unfounded beliefs about the benefits of circumcision, as there is evidence that it is beneficial in this respect, and it is being used as part of HIV prevention strategies in some countries.

Haven't read the whole thread as I can guess how it went...

Our son is circumcised and the procedure was carried out by a very reputable mohel in North London. He is also works at a hospital in Hertfordshire and I can't recommend him enough. PM me if you would like his details.

slippermaiden I can only assume there are special circumstances requiring that, but if you tried to give me a lumbar puncture with no anaesthetic I promise you it would hurt a lot.

Is this under the NHS or some private/religious setup?

Gamer I have a different doctor now, an extremely reasonable woman who will do whatever the mother wants within reason. (I had DD under her care.)

Unfortunately I had DS with an elderly man doctor who spoke in that measured, "I'm just so reasonable" tone and I was so out of it I didn't know how to say no.

Not again.

Good evening and happy holidays to you all
This topic is one that is always very divisive (no pun intended) and therefore would ask you to remind you that it's the season of good will and to let peace and love reign
thanks ever so

And I know circumcision is slipping in the US, but where I live it's very very much the norm.

I know a lovely couple who have done foster care for a baby with FAS since birth. They are going to adopt him and have signed papers etc. He's one now and was going to have tubes put in his ears and she casually mentioned he would be circumcised at the same time. I was honestly.

Slippery - you might want to have a look at Dynamed (presume you're familiar with it in your setting) - local anesthetic or Emla are recommended for pain relief. Sugar water does not even feature in the guidelines - strangely enough.

It's every Nhs hospital neonatal unit. Not doing circumcisions! Giving sugar as pain relief to babies having painful procedures. Other pain relief isn't given for short procedures. The babies go to sleep. Look up sucrose for babies on Google!

Don't use emla cream for prem babies ever, never seen that, probably not licensed for their delicate skin. Seem to have changed the thread, don't start on me tho, only sAying sugar does work!

Just to back up slippermaiden, DD was given sugar water pain relief at our local hospital when she had blood taken to check for jaundice.

Oh and circumcision? Barbaric.

Are you sure its an actual pain relief effect rather than distraction slippery?

Can't link as on mobile but I looked it up on google, says it helps the body release its own opioid. Baby sucks it with a dummy, the dummy is soothing too. Works for 5-8 minutes so for short procedures. I can only say what I see myself at the hospital every day I work.

Not sure about Slippery as my nickname!

Sucrose as pain management isn't use in many places because we don't know how effective it is. In fact a friend of mine authored a paper on this very topic.

A similar paper, found that sucrose despite reducing crying and grimacing, did not have any physiological affects related to pain relief, it was the same as administering saline water.

It was actually found to be similar to breastfeeding and kangaroo care. Now correct me if I'm wrong but neither of us are going to help you when you're in serious pain. They're comforting sure, but they aren't a pain relief.

Sucrose is a distraction technique for minor procedures like heel pricks; the use of it in lumbar functions frankly astounds me. It wouldn't be done in my trust.

So what do you give for lumbar punctures then in prem newborns? Never known anything to be given except this and having been a nurse for 20 years in 3 different units I like to think I've seen a lot of stuff.

Sorry slipper goodness knows what i was thinking of when i called you slippery!

Ha ha. Lots of very serious people on this thread, might be time to sign off...

It's as Grays said - if you carry out a search for meta analyses or systematic reviews, breast milk, kangaroo care and sucrose are found to be similar in reducing crying in venipuncture, but they have no physiological effect on pain.

They certainly wouldn't have affect levels of pain associated with cutting off a foreskin. For that you need something a bit stronger than sugar water or blessed wine.

Yep - because mutilating babies and young children is quite a serious matter...

Yeah I know that I just thought it might lighten the thread to say that sugar water is actually used for babies in hospitals. I'm going to ask my nurse friends around the world what pain relief they use. We do use morphine infusions for very sick infants but I'm talking about essentially well babies.

Ask them which evidence based guidelines they refer to when administering pain relief

There's a number of different medications they can have slipper but usually topical anesthetic for lumbar punc.

Glad to hear an American voice of reason CheerfulYank. Don't the American Academy of Paediatrics (American Paediatric Academy...?) actually recommend circumcision? Nothing to do with the fact that it lines doctors' pockets at all I'm sure...

You could go to a Rabai/jewish doctor. (whether you are Jewish or not) I would think from 2 days to maybe 2 weeks is probably better as they have experience with very young babies. I know there are some around stamford hill but probably all over london. Otherwise there a special clinics. You could also get a doctor who specialises in this come and do it in your house who uses local anaesthetic. Makes it much less hassle but also more expensive. If you need more details happy to help.

Eurgh. 'Happy to help' with the mutilation of a baby's penis. Lovely.