Circumcision - Cortland, IL

My son had a circumcision just because my husband, and brothers had bad infection,etc problems without it later in life. They used a local anaesthetic and it healed fast, and we have had no problems with it after..

The eyecare is usually done right after birth, so as to protect the baby against bacteria in the mother's vaginal area. I think the Vitamin K can be delayed a bit.

I chose not to have my son circumsiced. My main reason was the pain, the second reason is that doctors sometimes mess up. So even if your worried how you think your son may feel in the future if he was not circumsiced, just think how he would feel if the doctor messed it up.

I delayed eye care. Not long, I just wanted my baby to come out and look at me and my husband first before gooing up her eyes. Re. cicumcision, I would pass. I think it is barbaric and it is a trend that is over. Either way, good luck with your labor. I hope is is fast and painless.

I would also encourage you to do some research on circumcision before you just have it done. I did and found I didn't want him put through that for no real reason, and once my husband read the literature too (he was for it originally) he changed his mind as well.

If you are going to do it, definetly he needs some kind of medication for pain. It is so ridiculous to think they don't feel pain cause they are newborns or that there are no nerves down there...right. They have many options but if you do decide it is the right choice for you, there is no reason for your son to have to feel all that. I can't believe there are doctors around that still do it without.

Also, alot of insurance doesn't cover circumsicion anymore because it is not necesscary so you may want to check up on it.

There are also ways to go about not getting the eye stuff done. If you do it though, I would wait. You want to be able to bond with your baby and have them be able to see you clearly as well right away.

When my son was born I was concerned about the same thing. the doctor put a pain blocker (I think it is a ring) on him before they did it and pain meds every 4 hours. He slept alot that day and the next day it didn't seem to bother him.

I have two boys, one 18yrs old and 1yr old. None of them are circumsiced. I did not see a reason why it had to be done, they already have their "work" cut-out for them adopting to new surroundings. When my little one was born(second marriage)the 18yr brother was the one insisting on the baby not being circumcised. My new husband is circumcised and was having some doubts about it, but my older one had a conversention with him and we dicided NOT to circumcied the little one either. We see no reason as to why it has to be done.

If you dicide to have done, somekind of anesthesia should be used, believe me, they feel pain.

You should hold you newborn before they take him to be cleaned, you will see how he turns his face towards you when he hears that FAMILIAR voice, enjoy your little angel.

You are going to get all sorts of responses to your questions. I had a baby boy 5 weeks ago (our 2nd boy) and our hosp did not use any anesthesia - only sugar water. I requested tylenol before the procedure. All of our nurses said "oh there's no pain receptors down there . . ." and turned their noses at us upon the request for tylenol.

As for the K and eye drops. Yes, its IL law that the baby get both. We asked for them to delay them. The eye drops are to prevent blindness in the baby incase you have gonorrhea or chlamydia (not likely in most cases). Honestly, we were told that you could wipe the ointment out once the baby is handed back to you. We asked that both the K and the ointment be administered later and they did - it was over an hour after his birth.

Good Luck with your birth and keeping to your birth plan!
B.

Of course this is a big decision, and a personal one. We opted not to do it, because we felt like it was wrong to cut off part of our baby's anatomy for convenience of cleaning reasons. Neither of us can imagine anybody cutting off part of our genital area; we didn't want that for our newborn either. That said, if you're going to do it, it seems reasonable that it would cause quite a bit of pain and that one should use anesthesia to make them as comfortable as possible.

Just a whisper in your ear, you may opt not to circumcise. I did a lot of research before my son was born and made a decision not to. It's a heated debate, and I'm not going to get into it here, but I just wanted to let you know there's a ton of info out there about it.

Hi S.,

I have a 7 1/2 month old baby boy and when he was circumcised they used an topical anesthetic cream on the area just before the procedure. I thought that was standard practice, I'm surprised to hear about so many babies not having anything to numb the area.

I never second guessed our decision to have him circumcised, but that didn't make it any easier when they took him to have it done. I didn't want him to be in any pain and I just started weeping (of course I was exhausted and emotional in general having just had a baby 2 days prior). The nurse had to come in and console me and let me know that I was in way more pain from the delivery than the baby would feel from the circumcision. That made me feel a little better. He seemed fine when they brought him back to me and it never seemed to bother him at all as it healed.

Good luck!!

L.

hi S.,

I have a 10 month old son and I am going to tell you what I did for my son. You don't need anesthesia for your son. They doctor will a small shot in the area to do the circumcision. My husband watched it happened and believe me...it hurt him more than it hurt my husband. And have the eye care and the vitamin K shot. After birth a surge of pain tolerence is present in the baby so shots wont hurt as much as they would later in life....and besides I know a lot of docotors and nurses and they suggest doing it right away. Where are you delivering at?? I might be able to help you out better.

---D.

I am against circumcision, but absolutely would give him anesthesia if doing the procedure. Do you know exactly what they do during a circumcision? OMIGOD!
Amy

Hi S.,

When my son was born, he was circumcised and the doctor just used sugar water. I was concerned about any pain he might have but the doctor said most babies are so interested in the sugar water they don't even cry. I think my son cried a little but only for a moment and then was fine. He was fast asleep immediately after and never seemed bothered by it.

Personally, I'm glad they didn't use anesthesia as I would just prefer not to use any meds/drugs unless absolutely necessary.

As for circumcision, I know you didn't ask for an opinion on this however you've received some. All I want to say is whatever you decide, it's a good decision because of the reasons you've chosen to have or not have it done. Don't ever doubt yourself (not that it sounded like you were but I know others' opinions and comments can sometimes cause doubts).

Good luck.
-Jen

Last time I checked statistics, they were getting close to 50/50 overall on US circumcision, with lower rates on the coasts, and the trend in the US in general is fewer circumcisions. You can google circumcision rates in US for details. (In Europe, they don't circumcise as much either) So no matter what you do, your child will have peers who are/aren't circumcised and won't be the one kid who stands out in the locker room or whatever (my boys are uncut.) Like others said, I think the anesthetic is topical.

I think the reason the eye drops come up in the birth plans is that some people like to have a half-hour to cuddle/breastfeed before they start the whole routine with the drops and shots etc. That's what we did.

I have 4 month old twins, one a boy. He was circumcised a couple weeks later (in NICU). It was just a local anthestic (which is what I would recommend) and some tylenol for a few days. I would recommend getting it done... the main reason my husband wanted it... then this way, they'll look a like and my husband can better answer his sons questions about his privates then if he wasn't.

Eye care -- not sure what that is... they put eye drops in your baby's eyes after birth. I would think that this is mandatory like the vitamin K. I mean I guess you can say you don't want it, but millions of babies go through the same steps and don't have issues.

Good luck and congrats!

Dear S.,

It sounds like you're getting a bit overwhelmed with all the details associated with the birth of your son. We have a 19 month old son and felt lots of the same things... My suggestion is to really put your trust in your doctor and the hospital that you chose for the birth. They are going to take care of all of these small details for you while you try to recover from the birth. They just put some medicine in baby's eyes to clear them up and prevent infection... it's no big deal at all. We actually had to get more of the medicine after a few days for our son... his eye was getting pussy and goopy because the tear ducts aren't developed yet... it's totally not a big deal. As for the circumcision, I remember we asked a million questions and were really scared about the whole thing. But our then fabulous doctor for the baby totally explained everything and made us feel so much better about it. I think, if I remember correctly, that they do numb the area a bit. They don't just go in there and start cutting... again, your pediatrician could give you the whole story and I promise you'll feel more at ease.

I think you should have it done. Sometimes boys are not the cleanest at around 4 years to 7 years old and his private part can get infected. I do not think he needs anesthesia so young. My son did not and he was fine. My insurance did not cover it and it was about 500.00. good luck

Barbaric???!!! Just think you should disregard that comment. Its ok for her to have her opinion but she is actually incorrect. I will not go any further. But be reassured that it is much much healthier for males to have circumcisions short and long term. Check medical info and resources and you'll see for yourself. Just for the record, I do not have any boys so this is not a personal issue at all. Just want to see you do the best for your son. Congrats!!!!

No advice from me about circumcision, though I would ask for SOME type of anesthetic- that's just gotta hurt!!

Eye care- they ask if you want it delayed because a baby's eyesight is pretty clear and they can focus for a short period of time immediately after birth. This is important bonding time for you and your baby as your baby takes in the "blueprint" of your face and connects it to your voice. The eyecare that they are talking about are drops/ointment they put in the baby's eyes to prevent infection (infection can come from things such as a bowel movement you have during delivery or STDs that you may have, etc.)

Generally you should be able to hold, nurse, or "bond" with your baby for up to an hour immediately after the birth. They will usually take the baby, weigh him, do a quick checkover, and wipe him off so he is a bit easier to hold and check for abnormalities (but most times they can do all of this in the room with you.)

After your time with the baby, they will probably take him to the nursery to be checked over by a dr and bathed, have a blood test, footprinted, etc.

Be sure to ask your dr or midwife any questions you may have and call the hospital too- they should be happy to give you specifics and you can find out if they honor certain requests you may have for your birth.

Congratulations!!
-Amanda