Circumcised or Not Circumcised?
Why Should My Newborn Boy Penis Foreskin Be Circumcised or Not Circumcised? At Birth, as a Child or as an Adult?
The last thing on my mind was to have my son circumcised since I always pulled the skin of the penis from the head to the glands when I bathed my son since he was a newborn. However, it seemed as the head of the penis was not coming out as it is supposed to so that when my son gets older he would be able to clean under there. I did not pay any attention since nothing was bothering him but one day when he turned around seven-years-old he came to me and told me that his penis hurts when he pees, so I told him to not worry because we will go to the pediatric doctor to have him checked. After visiting his pediatric doctor, he referred my so to see a urology doctor and prescribed antibiotics meanwhile the appointment day came since he appeared to have some infection.
Meanwhile, we waited for the urology appointment I noticed that when he went to pee the middle of the penis would swell like a balloon and he would have difficulty urinating. One sunny afternoon during the summer season at the urology visit I explained everything to the urologist doctor and it turns out that children by the age of five should be able to retract their penis. However, every person in this world is unique and that does not necessary means that my son or your son will be able to retract the penis at the age of five because there might be some children who may be able to do so at the age of ten. My son was unable to retract the foreskin of the penis, so she recommended to have a circumcision through general anesthesia or to try and apply a course of steroid cream to help the skin to retract.
Since the opening was too small to expand over the head of the penis she gave me a 50 percent chance for the course of steroid cream to work and guess what I decided to set up an appointment before school started to have the circumcision done. Everything went fine thank God. However, he went through some hard time walking and looking at it in the beginning. He tough that he got a new penis since it looked differently. He also cried and said that he does not like his penis because it does not look like before. The worst part was two days after the surgery when it was time to take off the band-aid he did not want me to touch him at all. The blood dried there so it was stock to the skin and irritated to take it off. I needed another person to hold my son while I took it off successfully. Then the scarf had to come off and he refused for me to clean his penis because it felt sensitive when touched. Other than the discomfort while it healed in about 10 days, the surgery was successful. Like any other mom who loves their children, it just broke my heart to see my son the skin from my skin go through pain and discomfort.
Should I have my son penis foreskin circumcised?
As a mother, you will have to make many decisions from the minute you conceive like the future birth method, medications used for pain, perhaps no medications to deciding if you will have doctors circumcised your newborn penis. As a new mother, seven years ago I remember my natural instinct to protect that little baby that I carried in my womb for about nine months. I remember I was even upset when the nurse brought back my newborn and gave me a paper that said they gave his first vaccine. I immediately check my little boy to see if he was hurt and asked the nurse why they did not ask for my permission to vaccinate him. I was told that all newborns must be tested by getting some blood from their heel, they are washed, they put on a lotion on their eyes to prevent any infection, among other things.
If you are expecting a baby boy, you need to be prepared and although many midwives and doctors do not tell you much about your rights it is our responsibility as soon as we confirm that we will become moms to do some research. There is no book that will tell you how to be a parent and the ones out there are based on experiences. Mature people like to say “no one learns until they experience “X” through themselves. “X” is the consequences of any decision either in the short or long term.
When I had my first child I wanted the birth to include the least amount of medication used. I delivered my son vaginal and without the use of any medications. I am not saying that everyone should not use medications to ease the delivery process but that was my choice. I just did not want my baby to receive any medication that I took. After birth, the doctors and nurses will ask you if you are going to proceed with a circumcision procedure. I immediately declined as I once again did not want my newborn to go through any stress especially anesthesia.
If you decided not to remove the foreskin of the penis that covers the tip through a surgical procedure, then you need to make sure you retract the foreskin of the penis back every time during bath time to avoid infection.
Some parents decide to circumcise their child when their child is a newborn or at around eight days old. Some of the reasons may include:
- Judaism religion
- Islam religion
- (Or health-related reasons that are typically shown later in childhood or young adulthood)
- Urinary infection
- Penile cancer
- Decreased risk of sexually transmitted diseases
- Easier genital hygiene
- Phimosis or tight foreskin
Disadvantages of penis foreskin being circumcised in children
- Confusion may think he got a different penis
- Causes pain until healed in about 7 to 10 days
- Fear of the changes
At what age should the penis foreskin be circumcised, in infants, children or adults?
Many mothers like me simply decide to skip circumcision when the child is first born because of the simple word anesthesia and or other belief’s that includes the desire to protect our little babies from any harm. However, It is important to know that there are different types of anesthesia.
Newborn Circumcised
Usually, in newborns local anesthetic better known as a numbing medication for the penis area is used by doctors to do the circumcision, therefore the baby would not feel discomfort when the procedure is being done. Instead, they will feel movement or pressure and might feel upset. The recovery time for newborns is very quick only lasting from 12 to 24 hours. Remember that newborns are resilient do not be scared they are stronger than we can think.
Children and Adults Circumcised
For children and adult’s general anesthesia is used because of the patient awareness. General anesthesia after effects also includes one to feel upset, but no pressure or movements since you will not even know what the doctors are doing. The recovery time can last from 7 to 10 days for skin mild bruising and the swelling to go away completely.
Remember that the circumcision can be done at any age but the older the child the more aware of their organs they are, and they can develop fear. It is most common to perform the surgery when the baby is born. It is awesome that circumcision can be done at any time by a urology doctor because my son foreskin was not able to be retracted completely by the age of 7 complications began to happen.
Tight Penis Foreskin
When the penis foreskin cannot be pulled back from the head to the glands of the penis because the skin is too tight is called phimosis. Note that ballooning can be normal as a sign that the natural separation of the foreskin from the head of the penis is happening. The ballooning occurs because the opening is too narrow. However, when the flow of the urine is restricted accompanied by pain then you should seek professional doctors’ advice.
I hope that my experience can help you do some further research with your midwife doctor if you are still pregnant when reading this post. If you are reading this after you gave birth and you are still in the recovery room at the hospital do not be afraid to ask any questions (click here for some ideas of questions to ask) you can think of directly to the pediatric doctor in the hospital. Be encouraged asking means that you are learning, and learning is a lifelong experience. I suggest you write all the questions you may have on a piece of paper before consulting a professional doctor. It is normal to forget the questions you were going to ask while speaking with the doctors. Why do we forget what we were going to ask is simply because we are processing information while also finding out more information! Comment below or ask questions I am more than happy to help you any way I can!!!
