Circumcising boys - has anyone got experience of this?

[Marty8542]

Hello all,
My husband and I have recently returned from the US, where our first son was born. As is very common in the States, our son was circumcised as a newborn, as a matter of routine.
We now have a second boy on the way, and he will be born in London. I just found out today that if we wanted our son to be circumcised, we'd have to arrange this ourselves and get it done privately on an outpatient basis. I've done a little looking online and can see that there are a few private clinics that offer newborn circumcision to parents who chose this for their sons.
Before I decide on where and when to get this done for our second son, does anyone have any experience or suggestions as to how best to chose which clinic, which method, at how many days old, etc?

Foreskin is there for a reason. Please don't do this to your baby. (Doctors used to remove tonsils until they realised that they are better left where they are, as the body's first line of defence. )

Oh and i must apologize for not being Cosmopolitan!

So laziness then.. I always thought so.

They don't routinely anesthetise babies being circumcised. Given reasons including it makes it more complicated a procedure, takes longer etc.

www.circumcision.org/response.htm

It is child abuse IMO. Plain and simple putting a baby through uneccessary pain when he can do nothing about it, is child abuse.

I would post more links (I've studied this as part of my degree), but reading about it is making me feel sick.

I'm sat in bed feeding my perfect four month old little boy whilst reading this and feel so upset that someone would want to subject their own child to this, totally agree that it's abuse.

New studies are saying now that men with foreskins have better sex lives than those without.
I can believe it as well. Nerves involved in sexual function are more complex than we realise, and all areas need to be connected and intact for there to be 'optimum' pleasure.

Any woman that's been cut and stitched down below, due to childbirth or other medical reasons will tell you that the area is never as sensitive as it used to be. Connections between nerves are probably severed or damaged. Even though it may not be visible.

I believe that unnecessary surgery on a penis can also cause damage (even though you may not see it) and it could cause problems in adulthood.

I'm still boggling at the notion that not having to teach your children to keep their genitals clean is a selling point, frankly.

Grim.

I'll post a link .

I haven't discussed it in depth with her, but my take is that circumcision is a sign of commitment and belonging, part of her determination to ensure he shares the traditions that mean so much to her.

I don't believe in God so the depth of this need to conform to tradition is hard for me to understand, but it runs very deep.

My eldest son is circumcised. It was the most traumatic experience of my life... and I have had a pretty harrowing life by most standards!

He was two years old. I had to hold him down while he struggled, kicked, and screamed being put to sleep with gas. I had to lay my baby on an operating bed. I waited for him to come round where he was so disorientated that he nearly fell off the bed. He was terrified of me because I was the last person he saw before he went under. for the first two days every movement for him was agony. he screamed for every wee. He had the plastibel circumcision and a ring block of aesthetic around his penis. the injection marks could be seen for a week. trying to put on antiseptic cream for him was horrendous. He was traumatised. The only saving grace was the pain meds made him drowsy so at least he could sleep through the recovery. I couldn't though. I was horrified by my poor baby going through something like that.

Why anyone would do that to child willingly I will never know.

He had to be circumcised because he had hypospadias, and was a pretty bad case. If it hadn't been a bad case I wouldn't have had it done. In fact our second son has a mild case so we decided not to have it done.

Cultural and religious reasons being accepted for abuse are fucking shocking in this day and age!

How very sad that your newly born son is not perfect in your eyes until you have chopped a bit of him off. Luckily my son was and is perfect so I didn't feel the need to mutilate him just for him to fit in with tradition.

I suppose that's the difference of how we all love our sons, some cause unnecessary pain and distress, some don't.
Why don't you ask if they can take out his appendix at the same time? After all, that's surplus to requirements too.....

OscarWinning, I may be reading your link wrong, but in all three methods of circumcision described there is either cutting or tying off with string so that the foreskin later drops off (!).

I'm glad your DH isn't bothered by being circumcised. However I cannot imagine volunteering to have a bit of my DS cut off when there are no benefits to him during his childhood. He can do what he likes when he's an adult.

My DS was unwell for the first week of his life and was in SCBU. He had two lumbar punctures which were horrific, a cannula for antibiotics, a nasal gastric tube which he would pull out regularly, twice daily injections and so on. When he was well enough to come home, there was no way I was going to let him have any other medical procedures that weren't necessary. The momentary pain of immunisation jabs is more than outweighed by the protective effect against a host of nasty diseases. They also didn't leave him scarred or altered. I hope you don't think I'm a nutter or a "intactivist" for feeling that way.

I can't imagine what kind of person looks at their child and wants to cause them deliberate and unnecessary pain. When I look at my boys all I want to do is protect them, there must be something fundamentally wrong with people who can cause pain to their children, it goes against every natural instinct.

I am clearly very uncosmopolitan (and as a mother of two ds - delighted to be) as I find the thought of mutilating your son because of something you believe in utterly barbaric.

oscarwinningactress

"And of course it's cleaner. You don't have to do anything to a circumcised penis."

Ummmm...you do still have to wash it...

Still no response from the OP about how " cosmopolitan", or even culturally acceptable, she believes FGM to be.

elephants, I can see why you wouldn't want to offend your friend but the idea of someone finding comfort in the practice of cutting their new-born baby for no sound medical reason is abhorrent.

Marty - provided it is done at less than a month or so old, many of the members of the initiation society (which you can google) will do a circ for people who aren't Jewish. Most of them are GPs or other medics, so you're in good hands. I must have been to about 50 (religious ones, obviously) and have never seen across any problems. Alternatively, I understand there is a place in Luton, which is probably cheaper but a bit more of a production line.

Good luck with the baby. PM me if you want to avoid the outraged wittering...

"Outraged wittering"... Not exactly a good way to counter the points that are being made. Do you not think that the point I made about avoiding unnecessary operations/pain was reasonable? Can you give a counter argument as to why you should perform an unnecessary operation on a small baby?

Smegma collects under the hood of the clitoris. Does that mean the hood should be removed for purposes of cleanliness? If the answer to that is no, as it's unpalatable, why is it OK to do it to boys?

Grown men who were circumcised at birth, will not know how it affects their sensitivity as they've never had it to compare.

I just don't get it. Millions of men are uncircumcised and I've yet to see page after page of discussion on how to get rid of unwanted Smegma. It's crazy.

You can have it done at The Portland or Dr Martin Harris, circumcision . Co . Uk comes highly recommended. He's an honorary consultant at Great Ormond Street amongst other places.

OP, I hope you get the answers you want and that you can ignore the more arsey posters. However I disagree with circumcision. You should leave it to your son to decide whether or not he wants to do it when he is older.

I notice that you mentioned that your mother is South African and that you want to get your son circumsised for cultural reasons. I don't know what culture you wish to honour but many South Africans are not circumsised until they are teens.

Personally, I can't see how anyone can 'meddle' in someone else's sexual organs. What if your son grows up and has a problem with sex (ED or premature ejeculation) regardless of the actual cause how do you think he would feel? What if he blamed you for his problems.

Arguments that circumcised penises are cleaner than non circumsised are odd. It simply isn't a valid reason.