have just been told to try to get ds to pull back his foreskin or he'll need circumcision.hv told me he didnt need to yet.any advice??

[mumandlovingit]

my son was 5 at end of june and hasnt got any foreskin loose at the end to be honest to fiddle with or pull back in my eyes.

took him to the doctors friday and he's got a wee infection and the doctor was mortified that my son doesnt regularly fiddle with himself and try to get his foreskin to retract.

he said that my sons is far too tight and we've got to encourage him at every opportunity to do it without hurting himself or he will have to be circumcized.

i really dont want that for him as he had grommes this year and when he was in hospital some of the boys on his ward had had it done and they were in agony and really sore and uncomfortable.

the hv told me at the beginning of the year that they dont worry about that until they're around 7.

im so confused.anyone got any advice?? anything that will hep it retract?

help it retract is what i meant!

I think that your hv is right. I'm sure that it's perfectly ok not be able to retract it until about 7.

i mght gogle it and see what it comes up with. just hate getting conflicting advice.

i really cant spell today can i

I have some experience of this and was told by a paediatric surgeon that a tight foreskin wasn't an issue until they were about 14. But that said, I have also been told that boys should try to retract their foreskin - emphasis on try - it doesn't have to retract until puberty.

I dont have suggestions for you to help it retract im afraid. What I do know is that if it is too tight, he will be prone to repeated infections and pain from that.

Circumcision is sore like any operation, but no consultant will undertake this operation lightly. It is my understanding that the foreskin shouldnt be pulled back too far ie to clean etc so I am unaware of how you can resolve this by getting DS to try retracting it. Sorry.

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thankyou for your advice.i think i will see how it goes and if it starts to be a problem i'll ask about the steroid cream and see what the doctor thinks.

he had an operation earlier in the year and he didnt react very well with the anaesthetic and i really dont want him to have to have another unless its absolutely necessary.

he's had balintis once and now has a wee infection but he doesnt seem to get any problems with it.if he does i'll get him checked out by our doctor.it was a foreig doctor who saw him and said it and i often wonder whether different cultural beliefs/tradition etc comeinto things more than medical reasonings.

he's been pulling his foreskin forward slightly in the bath as some sites on the internet say that its a way of loosening it all without hurting him by forcing it back.im certainly not going to be yanking at him ar making him hurt himself.

i'll see how he goes.thankyou for the advice

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my ds2 has a very tight foreskin - he's now 11.5, and has been seeing the consultant for a couple of years. He will not be having a circumcision, but is very likley to have a cut made in his foreskin in the next year or so to allow it to move up and down - his consultant and I thought this was a much preferable option. At 5 i'd leave him for ages yet before doing anything. Be very careful about trying to slide it up and down though - DS2 did this (under GP's instructions) and it got stuck and it was excruciatingly painful for him to him it put back - think entenox, painkillers, ice and me holding him down screaming whilst the casulaty docs returned it

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One thing I wanted to say is that I know two males who experienced problems due to too tight foreskin in later life. One is my brother which I know about because my sil told me, he had an op as it was recommended to help with fertility problems that he had.
Also an ex of mine had problems with ejaculation cos of finding sex painful. He later had an op.
The only reason why I raise these examples is, that although I too wouldn't be keen on the idea of my sons being circumsised. I think that you only have a window of opportunity to sort this out for them, because teenage boys won't usually talk about these things with their Mums.
does that make sense?

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Its good to know that it can correct itself.

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Actually think that it has helped my ds1, that he fiddles with it all the time. Thinking back, it was pretty tight, and he got ballinitus twice as a baby.
Noticed the other night that it seemed to be completely retracted now. So I guess it works

I found this article the other day, basicaly saying that you can usually wait it out.

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ive just checked my other son who is four and although he has more lose foreskin at the end than my other son, when you pull it back slightly or hes been 'fiddling' his doesnt pull back either.its still intact at the end.

i think i'll encourage gentle playing around with it if they wish to do so in the bath etc but i wont encourage them to pull the skin back or anything.

i think the doctor i saw was expecting too much too soon & i think i'll wait before even mentioning circumcision.i'll explore every other avenue first.the ones with the least pain for my kids!

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