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?

But a general debate isn't why anyone should choose surgery on their child. Religion I get as a sytong motivator (though I still don't agree). What possible motivator is there to the non-religious parents of an affluent western baby?

rf, you may want to extend your arguments to countries where easy access to condoms is not possible in order to justify cutting babies, but I'm on this thread addressing the arguments brought up by someone living in the UK.

I AM extending my arguments to precisely those people. Hence making them.

And my parents are from a country which doesn't have easy access to condoms. All men there are circumcised. I don't think that makes their families barbaric in any way.

I am jewish. My son was circumcised. All others will be too. It doesn't give me any pleasure, but it doesn't give me sleepless nights either.

it doesn't give me sleepless nights either

I can imagine it wouldn't, since it's not your genitals being cut unnecessarily.

Right, so you have your son(s) circumcised because you believe God tells you to. I disagree strongly with that, but I can respect it would be a strong motivator if you have those religious beliefs.

I've still not seen a single argument why a baby from an affluent country who is not of a religion that demands circumcision would be circumcised.

Jewish... isn't that the religion where some dude lays the lips on the babies penis after his cut a bit off them?

Or am I mixing it up with another religion that still does all of that? Got a herpes story lurking in my brain somewhere.

gamerchick

You've put me right off my dinner.

Ah im sorry man.

The health arguments for and against are irrelevant to me. This is a matter of choice. I think it very inappropriate in this day and age to remove this choice from a child.

If a male wants to be circumcised for whatever reason they want that's fine by me but it should be their choice and theirs alone.

I know it's a simpler operation to circumcise younger children than older individuals but I don't think that's relevent.

"Jewish... isn't that the religion where some dude lays the lips on the babies penis after his cut a bit off them?

Or am I mixing it up with another religion that still does all of that? Got a herpes story lurking in my brain somewhere."

No it isn't. There are extremists that do that sort of thing - but mainstream Jews don't and shouldn't be held responsible for the bonkers minority.

But the fact remains that circumcision is unnecessary surgery carried out on a person who is unable to consent. Which is very wrong- and possibly illegal.

Well if its written in their handbook then it's relevant.

Have you never read into the nitty gritty then? Some of it is mind boggling stuff.

Right I'm leaving. I don't appreciate the misinformation and ignorance on here. There are legitimate objections to male circumcision, then there are the lies and madness on this thread.
Or the tone towards me and others.
Enjoy your 'debate' !

Yep- that's a sensible and mature response. And really likely to help combat the misinformation.

It's a long time since we had a flounce, but give her her due, she stuck it out for several pages.

But in the end, there is no justification for cutting babies just because you can, so she had to go

Ah man don't flounce.

Fwiw I don't mind the Jewish religion.. keeps it's head down and gets on with it. This way of doing that op has been a part of it and still is in some parts.. own it and educate if you think I'm ignorant.. you can't cherry pick if you use religion as a reason.

To those that say it doesn't hurt... A study was done of how much babies cried in the first few months years ago in the US and found that boys cried much more than girls.
They then tried to replicate it in the Uk but found no significant differences between baby girls and boys.
They couldnt understand the differences - It wasn't until somebody realised that the differences between baby boys in the US and UK was that they were circumcised. When they reanalysed the US data with this in mind they discovered that the circumcised boys cried significantly more than girls - whereas the uncircumcised boys didn't.
I don't know about you but to me this strongly suggests that being circumcised hurts boys for months afterwards not just the hurt of the actual cutting.
But it's something that often doesn't get mentioned in this ongoing debate and I do think it should be!

rf. You have flounced without ever answering my very polite question. Why circumcise in an affluent country unless you believe God told you to? Is it that there is no reason?

Hello. I would just like to say that I got my baby boy circumcised for religious reasons 2 months ago and now he has grown & is doing perfectly well. No issues

Hi, I had my son snipped at 9 weeks. I was sobbing as I handed him over, but was very surprised when he was handed back as if nothing had happened. I took him to the follow up appointment 7 days later and he was given the sign off that all has healed as it should. There are many Muslim/Jewish GPs that provide the service at a cost. I paid £110 which consisted on the appointment and follow up. I live in West London and can give you two contacts if you are still looking?