circumcision yes or no

[morocco]

My 5 month old has a tight foreskin and doctors here recommend circumcision but Im really not keen. I spoke to docs in the UK and they said to wait and see but then I started worrying about whether it would be traumatic for him to be circumcised at say 4 or older and whether it might be better to just go ahead now. Has anyone been through this with a child of this age/older? All advice gratefully received

Congratulations Lisalisa - how far along are you?

If you use something in the early days of pregnancy it might be worth contacting the manufacturer and asking them if they have any infomation. Drug companies collect any adverse drug reactions that occur when taking a drug, and these include any effects on the developing foetus. They wouldn't have enough information to change the advice on the labelling (you'd need thousands of cases for that) but they may be able to put your mind at reast if there is no pattern in the effects reported. For example an anti depressant that I used to work with was often used accidentaly in the early stages of pregnancy. We had a number of foetal abnormalities reported to us but there was no parttern, and the overall incidence did not seem to be above background. So although we could not advicate its use, we could re-assure women who contacted us. S it might me worth ringing the drug company and asking for the medical information department. If they will not give you the information directly, ask them to send the info to your GP.

Regarding Thalidomide the law was changed after it to stop all use of drugs in pregnancy. The amounts of safety testing of drugs increased massivly after that date.

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Yes Lisalisa - just a couple of weeks behind you - won't you join us on the November/December pg thread, or are you just the tail end of October?

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Lisalisa - yes there is one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=49&threadid=5725&stamp=030401141832

Sorry, missed this earlier in the week, and understand all those people who hoped it'd died a death...

just wanted to say to lisalisa, it was me who asked about why Jesus isn't the Messiah, and it wasn't intended to provoke a debate, just a question from someone who is interested. Same as most of my questions to Nicola3 that went unanswered- I wasn't trying to start a fight: as someone who is interested on religion (all of them, I suppose)the questions intrigued me. I thought someone on Mumsnet might be able to address some of the points that confuse me.

Thanks very much to jimjams and zebra who gave me their understanding of the situation.

This has been an interesting thread... circumcision, medical ritual and aesthetic, Christanity and Judaism (with a little bit of JW thrown in too)vaccinations, autism, medications/ chemicals in pregnancy. Maybe Mumsnet should have a "Chinese whispers" award for the thread that ends up furthest away from the original point!

(DH writes:-)Damn, I missed the circum thread..took me an hour to read it, loved every minute, great stuff. Could have done with more male input, so here goes....

I know the discussion is over now, but I had to write my view after all that reading.

I had the snip at aged 7, it was the most painfull thing I can remember (general anastetic, and it was for medical reason) but looking back I'm sooooo glad I had it done. If we have a DS I would have to seriously ask ourselves whether we would want to "inflict" a "cosmetic snip" (sic) on my DS.

The benefits of the snip are GREAT! From my point of view, male circumcision aint no big deal. Yes, I'm guessing probably a small number of people die from the op each year (or get disfigured). But 60 people die from using step ladders in the UK each year! (my point here is that the risk is negligable if carried out by trained staff).

Although we all love our lil ones, no one can say they have not inflicted pain or put their child at risk in some minute way EVER (the vacination debate covers all of these). So come on, just accept that some people make the choice to snip and some don't. We all love our lil darlings and I'm sending big cyber hugs to ALL of you :-)

MinkyJJ - I didn't choose to have my son vaccinated for cosmetic reasons.

do 60 people die each year from step ladders? I'm already scared of those things...... How many die each years from sofas- isn't it somehting like 20- I can't ever understand how!

Nice summary Minkyjj......

ah but bed is the place most people die so these stats are a bit of a load of old rubbish aren't they?

Jimjams It's like the quote in a Bill Bryson book where he lists how many people in the US get injured by their clothing?? How does that happen? Other than zip related incidents.