Foreskin cleaning - at what age?

[calvemjoe]

Title says it all really. At what age should we start cleaning under ds's foreskin?

Anyone? I feel like such a bad mum not knowing this

afaik you don´t do anything to it and once they are old enough to be shown how to retract it/ clean themselves they should be encouraged to do so. But mine is only 9mo so this is just what I´ve heard!

I have had four sons 26yrs to 10yrs! My 26 yr old is about to have his own son early June. He rang me last night and asked the very same question

I CANT REMEMBER! I think when I had my eldest you were encouraged to wash them quite early but...when I had my last son I was told to leave it alone!

Sorry this answer is useless - I was going to 'google' it but was dreading what the search would come up with!!!

Your real name isin't Emma is it. Are you my sons lovely partner????

I've also heard that you don't go near it till they are old enough to do it themselves - but I don't even have boys so my informtion may be suspect.....{waves to Maveta}

I was wondering about this - ds (3) told me his willy hurt the other day and I had visions of all sorts of nasties lurking under the foreskin. Will broach the subject with him next bath time

It needs cleaned?????

Oh bollox.

Ds is 3.... no-one told me it needed cleaned!

Hi calvemjoe, no, you don't touch it or retract it until they can do it themselves daily. Otherwise it can get quite gunky if forgotten for a couple of days. (nurse BTW) HTH.

i have 11 week old and its something I am dreading.Just changing the nappy was a revelation!!

Yes but DS plays with it constantly but not in a Way that would encourage clenliness he is nearly 2
I need an age please, I can't believe I hadn't thought about it.
Shabster you DS is very forward thinking if DGs has not yet arrived.

handlemecarefully, ds is 3 too and that is exactly what prompted this question 'mummy my willy hurts!' I sort of thought, well everything seems ok so I'll just leave it alone but I know it needs doing one day.

Shabster, my name is Emma but my MIL doesn't have 4 boys

Thanks everyone, anymore advice would be welcomed.

Advice seems to be to leave it alone as you can do more harm than good. From Babycentre:

How should I care for my baby son's penis?

For babies, it's best to avoid bubble baths, as they can be drying and irritating to penile tissue. And when bathing your son, it isn't necessary to retract his foreskin. Actually, you won't be able to for several months or even years - it takes that long for the foreskin to separate from the penis. Even when the foreskin has separated and can be retracted safely, the best advice is simply to leave it alone. You may do more harm than good by interfering with its self-cleaning mechanism.

If your baby has been circumcised, you need do little more than keep the penis clean with soap and water as a part of normal bathing. For the first few days after a circumcision, the penis may look quite red, and you may notice a yellowish secretion. This is not a cause for alarm - both indicate that the penis is healing normally. Though circumcision sites rarely get infected, signs of an infection include persisting redness, a swollen penis tip, and crusted yellow sores which contain fluid. If you notice any of these signs, call your doctor immediately.

my boy is four and a half..we have never cleaned it...and it is fine

I never have with ds, but when I noticed he could retract it himself at around 4 I started to encourage him to wash there himself. No way should you attempt it with babies or very young toddlers as I understand it.

He's 6 now. It's his special job in the bath. I remind him and he has a twiddle. I remind him to pull it back and that he must do a good job but to be gentle, which he does.

I wouldn't want to do it for him in case I hurt him, plus it's importanat that he gets into the habit of doing it himself.

ds is almost nine and I've never cleaned his. A specialist told me never to pull or stretch his foreskin. He stated that little boys naturally 'find' their willies and in doing so, stretch their foreskins themselves, which was oh so true of ds
I just encourage him to wash ALL his nooks and crannies in the bath ie armpits, neck and willy

DS1 had an infection under his foreskin at 18m. (Went like a plum )
A&E man said that we should just pull the bottom of it very gently and very little to get the foreskin down a bit, while waggling it in the bath. Must admit we don't remember very often.
He also said that its up to 12m that you should never pull foreskin back, after that its more stretchy.

never

I have three boys aged between 3 and 8 and have never felt the need to go prodding around under their foreskins. They're fine.

I was always told leave it alone by my HCPs. It doesn't need prodding at, and I would imagine it might do more harm than good.

i was given info when leaving the hospital after just giving birth to ds. it says not to bother until 5 years of age and then teach son to do it himself, although i'm sure he'll have found his willie brfore then!

i never did this - who does this????????????????????????????

weirdos

My oldset DS is 7 and I have never done anything with his foreshin, just showed him out to clean his willy which he does himself now!

the doc here pulled ds´ right back during a routine check up yesterday (he´s 10mo) he didn´t even warn/ask he was going to do it. Have already whinged about this on another thread but just posting in response to Custardo´s question...

.. freaky Spanish doctors do this, that´s who..