Circumcision

There are three big debates that I hear going on various online Mommy groups that I am a part of.  They are: vaccinations (I'll get to that one later), rear facing carseats and other safety needs, and circumcision.  I am fully supportive of any parent that makes the decision for their son, no matter what that decision is....as long as it is a fully researched and well thought out decision.   I have many friends who are and who are not; I also have friends who chose to for their sons and who chose not to.  Please make sure that when you make this decision that you are fully informed from legitimate sources.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has just announced that they have results showing that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks of the procedure.  This is great because not all insurance companies cover the procedure, but backing like this will help parents, who make the choice to do it, get help from their insurance company.

Now personally, we chose to circumcise our son because of health benefits.  My grandfather was not circumcised and as an older man in a nursing home, they couldn't keep the area clean enough and he was having constant bladder and kidney infections because of it.  He had to get a circumcision as an elderly man. That is something that I wanted to protect my son from.  We also wanted to protect his potential sexual partners.  There is a higher occurrence of vaginal infections and STDs in women who's sexual partners are uncircumcised.  We also didn't want him to have to worry about hygiene and cleaning the area either.  I've heard that it's not such a big deal to take the extra 10 seconds in the shower to do that, but it is an important step to not miss too....just one more thing to remember.

It is a simple thing to do.  Our pediatrician said that he could do it for us, but recommended asking our OBGYN to do it.  The reason for this was because our OB delivered the babies and is also a surgeon.  They are the ones that typically performed circumcisions on our area, so they would be more experienced with it.  That's what we decided to do.  So when he was 2 days old, the day before we were set to leave the hospital, the nurse came in the morning to get him.  They gave him a very minuscule amount of Tylenol and I nursed him.  Then they took him to the nursery.  They used a local anesthetic on the area.  The procedure took less than 5 minutes.  Then they kept him there for another 25 minutes to watch him and monitor how he was doing.  Then he was back with me and nursed again.  He was a little groggy and took a nice nap with me.  Changing his diaper was a little tricky the first time because, just like the umbilical cord, you have to be careful of the area for a couple days.

EDITED 10/10/12:

I found a wonderful link to the exact technical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.  It is full of really great information.  The one thing that really stood out to me was that they are pointing out that insurance companies should be covering the cost of this procedure, if parents choose to have it done.  What also stood out was their commitment to address the problem that the procedure can cause pain and could cause harm if not performed correctly.  They stress that it should only be done by trained professionals using sterile techniques and effective pain management.  The fact that they are committed to ensuring proper support and teaching of not only how to do the procedure, but how to manage the pain is wonderful.  I urge you all to read this report as a good source of credible information.  Even if you are not in support of circumcising, it is good information to see that the governing bodies in our medical profession are trying to make it more safe.