sensitive subject - circumcision

Just a quick question about circumcision - how many plan on having thier sons circumcised? I guess just wanting to know what percentage of people are getting it done. NOT wanting to get a heated debate going, just curious...Thanks!

 

Just a quick question about circumcision - how many plan on having thier sons circumcised? I guess just wanting to know what percentage of people are getting it done. NOT wanting to get a heated debate going, just curious...Thanks!

 

My ds was very early and very small so he couldnt get it done right away. He was finally able to get circ'd at 16 months old in a surgury center under anethesia.

 

I'm pg w/ b/b twins and definitely circumcising both of them.

Michelle
EDD 3/17/07

 

I dont know if i am having boys yet... but the 2 boys i already have are circ'd and will still do the same if this preg includes boys.

 

My boys will be~

 

I'm having a boy and I don't think we'll be circumcising him. My husband is not circ'ed and I just don't see much of a point to it myself.

 

We won´t either - I never thought about it, though, as it´s rather uncommon here.

 

We are having b/g twins and we are getting the boy circ'd. Also, we were told by our medical insurance company that if we were to do this, if it wasnt done before he was discharged from the hospital at birth, then they dont pay for it. Just think thats a bit odd... but its thier rules.

 

I'll be doing it as well. I think I have just one boy in there, and we'll do it before he's discharged...I never thought about not doing it but I know others who haven't depending on their culture.

 

My 3yr old DS is and this boy will be too.

 

absolutely. religious reasons here...

 

I have 3 sons that have all been done - I am so glad these babies are girls! I always felt so bad for the boys!

 

I am having b/g twins. My husband and my 8 year old are so we will be doing the same for this one.

 

Our little guy is....it wasn't as bad as I had thought.

 

I am pg with g/b twins. Our boy will not be circ'ed. I have lived in Europe several times, and it is almost never done here. Given that they have no more boys/men with penis problems, and that there is no medical research to support it (in fact, most pediatric associations either advise against or consider it voluntary cosmetic surgery) I don't see any reason to put my baby through it.
It was harder for DH to get on board, as he is American, but in the end he couldn't find any reliable information on the benefits or necessity of it, and I could find a lot of information against it, so I won that argument.

 

Yes, Kyle is circumcised.

If you are looking for strictly numbers (and maybe more people to weigh in since there would be some anonymity) you could start a poll. If you have never done so before, click on new then below topic is poll. It is pretty self explanatory once the window opens but it is pretty much just like starting a topic, give it a title, put some information the body of your message, put your question in Questions box then the yes/no options you would like to have as possibilities.

 

If they're boys we definitely will - religious reasons also.

And, not to create a debate, but to a pp's response: actually, there is recent medical evidence that circumcision is a strong reducer of transmission of HIV; so much so that there are campaigns being launched in multiple African countries where the HIV infection rate is so high to circumcize ADULT males.....

That said, there are also lots of folks who say that it reduces penile sensitivity.

It'd definitely a cultural thing, however, and a very personal choice.

 

We had my son's done and the doctor did what was called a fingertip circumcision...not because we asked for that but b/c it is a trend in this area (I guess to avoid malpractice from taking TOO much off). It wasn't an issue for most kids, but my poor son was so affected by adhesions (the things that hurt so bad they will make a grown uncircumcised man go in voluntarily for the surgery) that he had to have it redone at 18 mos because he would grab his diaper area any time I put him on the changing table and scream "NO NO NO" and start crying. This problem went away immediately after the surgery and he quit freaking at diaper changes. I'd say if you have a history of adhesions in your family or your DH's it would be something to seriously consider. We are having the twins done, too, but this time we have a pediatric urologist coming in to do it because of our past problems.

 

I left the decision up to my dh, and he wants both boys to be, so they will be.

 

I had my 3 year old circumcised - I left the decision up to DH. Last February we had to have my son's circumcision revised because I guess the OB did not take enough like pp said happened to her son. We were lucky that the adhesion was not painful but made him look like his urine hole (sorry don't know the proper term) look low on the base of the penis. We took him to a peiatric urologist and he said that we could elect to do a revision because it was like he had a mock turtleneck The surgery was outpatient and he was in pain when he woke up, but by that evening he was running around like nothing happened.
We are having girls this time, but if they were boys I would do it again and probably have the pediatric urologist do it instead of the OB.
I agree that it is a personal decision and for many reasons what you decide should not be criticized.
Alex

 

quote:
And, not to create a debate, but to a pp's response: actually, there is recent medical evidence that circumcision is a strong reducer of transmission of HIV; so much so that there are campaigns being launched in multiple African countries where the HIV infection rate is so high to circumcize ADULT males.....



To be brief, there were serious methodological issues with this study. Also, I am not raising my son in Africa, and I do not want him to think that he has "immunity" from HIV/AIDS because he is circumcized. Because to hear people talk about the results of the African studies, circumcision is a "vaccine", which is simply not true.

OP: If you would like some non-biased links about circumcision, I would be happy to provide them.

 

We are having b/g twins and we will not be having it done.
As for the HIV transmission study that is a can of worms that I won't open because this isn't supposed to be a debate.

 

We are having girls, but I've looked into this subject before and am just not sure (if we have a boy in the future). I would lean more towards NOT circumcising, but I think my DH and I would both have to do a lot of research and agree on the decision together.

I read in a magazine somewhere recently that about 50% of males are circumcised in the U.S. today, compared to about 80 to 90% several years ago. When I worked in a Day Care, my department had more girls than boys. I think out of 7 boys, 3 were uncircumcised.

A lot of insurance companies won't pay for it at all anymore, because it's actually considered 'cosmetic surgery,' instead of just standard procedure.

 

We are...but my OB does feel it's more cosmetic and cultural than anything else. She brought up a good point..it's important for the boy to look like his daddy. I don't have strong feelings either way and can totally understand both standpoints.

 

My OB didn't try to influence me, but when I said I wanted my son circumcised she said "good...I have a hard time making my 10 year old put on clean boxers, much less clean his smegma."

It's not neccessary and I know that. We have our reasons and nobody likes to be criticized for their beliefs on such a sensitive topic. If you have it done, get it done right, though!

 

I think it's a personal decision and I've seen this get really nasty on other boards. Kudos to us for this post staying civil.

My dh is circ'ed but we neither one wanted DS to be done, and these boys won't be either. My opinion is that it's cosmetic and cultural and there really isn't a reason for it. Again, my opinion, don't want to debate. So no, these guys won't be circ'ed either.

 

We will be having our little boy done! I left the final decision up to DH and he wants it done.

I personally think it looks better and its cleaner. But that is just my opinion.

 

both boys were circumcised but both needed a revision 18 months later. Our GP performed the first one and assured us that it would be a simple procedure. Long story short, the revisions had to be done by a pediatric urologist. They look great now but I have always regretted my decision to have my GP do it. This time around, we'll go straight to the professional. Make sure you find someone that really knows what they're doing!

 

I had neither of my boys circ'd. Mimsy and I think alike on this issue.

 

We had it done before we left the hospital. DH was with him and made sure they put anesthetic on it before they did it.

 

I recently read a short article in Parenting magazine (or was it Parents) that said that a study was done following men in New Zealand for 24 years. They found a marked increase in the numbers of STD's in men who were not circumsized, and the article mentioned that based on this research, the Pediatrics community may be revising their opinion on circumsision.

My feeling is that this is because this is the first longitudinal study done in an industrialized nation--not a 3rd world country.

My boys were done, for religious reasons, as well as others--on my kitchen table by a pediatrition who was also a Moyel (sp?) at their bris. We never had any problems.

 

Sharon, we are Christian but my husband was so upset by the last circumcision needing to be redone he was asking me if we could get a moyel (again, sp?) to come in and do the twins. I told him I doubt it, but we are going with the next best thing...the ped. urologist.

Not to take the post on a totally disgusting turn, but when I was in high school I was looking for some meds in our family medicine cabinet and found a prescription strength yeast infection cream with my father's name on it. I asked my mother why a man would need that. She said "oh, your dad isn't circumcised and he won't take care of himself so he got a yeast infection" (he had diabetes). I'd hope very few men would be as unhygeinic as he was, though (insert shiver of disgust here).

 

our two boys will be- I don't know that the evidence is strong enough to truly sway me one way or the other, so since DH is, our sons will be too! Although this thread brought up some good points- I'll be sure to ask whoever's going to do it how much experience they've got!

 

Dh and I are adamantly against it. For religious reasons. God made them just fine they way they will be born.