pros and cons of circumcision?

Carly - posted on 06/25/2011

I say let him be. My son (and husband for that matter) are not circumcised, and like, neither is most of Europe LOL. It's more for looks or religious reasons, rather than actual medical purposes.



Also, if the doctor tries to talk you into it, find a new doc. We had one pediatrician tell us "OMG, your son had adhesions, the foreskin is stuck to the head of his penis and he'll have to be circumcised". Took him to a pedi urologist who told us its normal that it hasn't separated yet and probably won't until he's fully potty trained and starts retracting the foreskin himself while urinating. He completely advised us against circumcision. It's a major, painful operation at this age, anesthesia is a risk in and of itself, plus it's not generally covered by insurance when they are older either unless it's medically necessary and overall, it's a terrible ordeal to put the child through. It's like telling them something is wrong with them and we have to fix it.



I'd leave it alone and let him make the decision when he's older if he decides he wants to do it, then he can.

Laura - posted on 06/25/2011

If your son is already 3 years old and isn't circumsized than for me I would just leave it because when I was pregnant I had to watch this current and upto date I might add video of how they actually remove the for-skin and this awful and painful... The poor little baby was crying ansd screaming it was hard to watch and since the baby was so little they wouldnt use any local anastetic and the baby had to be held down it was like watching a horror movie..and I know your son is 3 now but if having foreskin hasn't given him any problems now than wny get rid of it...if your only wanting to remove it because like so many other moms out there you think its more sanitary to remove it well I can promise you that it doesn't make a difference. I hope you dont put your boy through that kins of pain it would hurt....

Katherine - posted on 06/25/2011

At this point I would leave him as is. It would be a major surgury and you wouldn't want to put him through that. The trend now is non to circ because of certain beliefs of mutilation, infection, death and the integrity of the child. If I had a boy I would not circ him.
Here is a link on why not to: http://www.circumstitions.com/reasonsnot...
Especially at his age. It takes away from sexual feeling too. It is NOT a necessary procedure. People started doing it for religious reasons.
There are so many reasons not to do it. It's really all cosmetic anyways. There will be many uncirqued kids these days, so don't worry about him being made fun of.

Olivia - posted on 06/24/2011

Thank you so much for you post. it was very helpful!!! I am leaning towards not having it done. I just need to talk to my husband. But i think he will agree!!

Laura Zoey - posted on 06/24/2011

Well I'd say leave him alone! 67% of American boys born in 2009 were left intact so very shortly the majority of America will be intact.

90 or so% of australia is intact as well.

Over all the world it's like 80% that's intact so he's definetly in the majority statistically.

If he becomes an adult and wants it done you can always offer to pay for it, but honestly I don't see why he would.

When boys are intact it's very important you never pull back their foreskin, the skin is attached to the head of the penis like a fingernail and it slowly loosens and separates over years. Sometime between 4-18 years boys will be able to pull it back themselves, but it should only be the boy to do it since he knows if it's hurting and will not rip it.



I had my son circumcised and in his first two years it has reattached 5 times, I've had to rip the skin back off his peniis and it's caused him terrible amounts of pain. I wish I never had done it. Now we have to see a pediatric urologist to see if he has any lasting damage.



Honestly we have caused him so much pain when he probably never would have an issue if we just left him as he was born.



Some circumcised men even have restoration surgery to try to get back some foreskin because they hate that it was cut off without their consent.



Many people say that intact penises get infected alot, this isn't really true. Girls get far more infections then boys, and female circumcision is illegal. And the boys who do get infections usually had their foreskin ripped back as babies because there's a lot of bad advise that you should clean under it as a baby, but it is attached so this causes rips and tears in the skin and these get infected easily.



So, no medical organization recommends circumcision anymore, they say it's a "personal choice" I think the one making the choice should be the boy himself when he's grown!

even Jews are now fighting against circumcision and some don't do it anymore.

There's a few cities in America that are trying to get circumcision illegal.



So I think tis safe to say America is soon going to be like the rest of the world and have very few cut boys.



Oh and as for sex, the foreskin has tons and tons of nerve endings in it and it is the biggest source of pleasure for the man, the skin moving allows the man to not have to thrust so hard to get pleasure so it's better for the woman, and the skin moving allows it to go in easier so it's not so abrasive to the woman.



All in all I find no reason to remove it, and many reasons not to. And I wish I had left my son intact and will do so with any boy I have in the future.



Good luck! And I hope this helps!