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Hi, My son was circumcised a week after he was born. I wasnt present for the actual circumcision because I couldnt stand to see him in pain. But after the circumcision he seemed to do just fine. You just have to make sure to keep it as clean as possible to avoid infection. What they nurses told us to do is apply a gauz pad with a generous amount of A+D ointment to it everytime we changed his diaper and it healed up in no time. The A+D and the gauz kept it safe from the bowel movements and urine qand also kept his penis from sticking to his diaper which could have been painful for him.

my experience with circumcision was AWFUL! sorry, but it was. they waited until my son was 2 wks old. i had to be in the room to watch it and it crushed me. i changed my mind so much in those 2 weeks, but decided to get it done. and im glad now. i know they had me give him infant tylenol for the pain but other than that, i really dont remember as far as what i put on it and how long it took to heal. i think it was a couple weeks. after the actual procedure, he did really well. it was watching it get done that traumatized me! i definitely think its a good idea to get it done though. im having another boy and ill be getting it done with him as well. its just sad to see you baby in pain like that. good luck

Both of my boys are circumcised. It was done on the third day for each of them (I had c-sections, so I was still in the hospital with them). I wasn't in the room while they did it, though I would have been allowed if I chose to be there. They were given a local anesthetic. I cared for it the way Layla described and my sons didn't seem extra fussy or anything afterward. They slept a lot, but so did my daughter at that age. We were lucky, our insurance covered it! Good luck!

Mine had his done when he was 2 days old. They brought him to me as soon as it was over and he'd fallen asleep before they got him to my room. After that, it never bothered him.

Hello Ledies,
I respect your dicision about this surgery, but can anybody explain to me What for you putting your sons through this ?!

They didn't do the circumcisions the day the baby was born?? Is this because you were still trying to decide if you wanted to go thru with it or not? Or is this how its done where you are from? When my stepson was born, he had his done the same day...

Thanks for sharing ladies. I will be going through it, I wont be in the room, if it comes down to it, I'll send my husband in (although that might be worse for him). To Masha, there are many reasons why people choose this, it could be religious, cultural and for me personally its a matter of being clean. Yes you can teach your kids to clean themselves but that is more of a reality when they are young adults. I'm a teacher and have taught different grades upto Grade 6, boys at that age and especially younger half the time forget to wash their hands after blowing their nose or going to the bathroom. They pick their nose and stick stuff under the desk, i've seen it done and for most boys (not all) I doubt they would take the time to clean themselves throughly. Plus I'm sure the pain is only for a couple of minutes, its like peircing your baby girls ears. I did it for my daughter at 3 months, the hardest was getting her to sit still, they did both ears at the same time, and she was more shocked by the gun than the pain of piercing. And we managed to distract her right away. It's also like giving vaccinations/immunizations, it hurts them and they get over it, some babies i know have cried for 5 hrs after and others (like my daughter) get distracted and get over it in less than a minute, others need to be nursed. Anyways I"m giving you my reasons for doing it. KLT, I don't know why they don't do it the same day, but maybe they want to make sure that the baby is healthy first. I don't know, just guessing.

My sons were circumcised 1) because their daddy wanted then to look like him and 2) for cleanliness- same reasons as Tanya2 gave. I think the reason they did my sons' circs. on the 3rd day was because they both were big babies (9 5 and 10 6) and had blood sugar problems that were more pressing of an issue than the circs.

i had my son circumcised because i heard if you dont, it can cause infections. which probably has to do with cleanliness. also so he can look like most other boys and not feel 'weird' or 'different'. im not sure why they dont do it at the hospital he was born at. i had to take him to his pediatrician to have it done. but i personally dont think its the same as piercing my daughters ears. that is something i wouldnt get done until shes older and can decide for herself. but that is my personal opinion. i know alot of people that have it done to their babies.

Personlly, I left the decision up to my husband. I figured since he had a penis he should make the decision. I felt bad when I saw how raw it looked after the gauze came off, but the baby didn't seem to be bothered by it. We did the same after-care that Layla did. I was completely healed at three weeks.

Tanya2, I have always been very interested in medical science and all, and so when my son was born and my husband didn't want to be in the room when he was circumcised, I asked our pediatritian if I could watch and he had no problem with it... My son had his done at the Hospital when he was just 2 days old and in the room where they do it, there were two other little baby boys also getting it done by their pediatritian... my ped. dr. was so amazing and explained so much to me! He told me how many pediatritians use a topical cream to numb the area to be circumcised and that it can take around 20 min. to actually do some numbing and even still it doesn't always numb that well. My son's dr. used a local injection of a numbing agent right around the base of the penus/scrotum/belly area so that the whole thing was going to be numb. He also dipped a pacifier in just a little bit of sugar and gave it to my son right before the injection of the numbing agent. My little guy just stirred a little when getting the shot, and then absolutly no pain. He went through the whole thing with no pain and no tears. And the other two little baby boys were crying and looked so uncomfortable strapped down. My son was also strapped down, but didn't seem to mind with the pacifier and me stroking his hand or arm. He was just fine after the numbing agent wore off as well. The pediatritian had me give him tylenol after a while just to manage any upcoming discomfort. It went well and I am glad I got to see the difference between the shot to numb and the topical cream and I would recommend the shot over the cream ANY day!! Topical cream is just not good enough and the shot is quick and didn't seem to bother my son. However, it was sure sad seeing the other 2 baby boys scream during the procedure and not even have any pacifier or mommy to console them. We did the circumcision for cleanliness and to look like dad. I have a friend that was married to a man with his forskin and even though he was very clean, she kept getting yeast infections after sex and then after that marriage and getting married to a man who was circumcised, she never had that problem again. So, in my opinion, it doesn't hurt to have the circumcision for many reasons and for when they are grown up and married for themselves. I just didn't see any trauma at all with my son and getting vaccinations was always worse. Best of luck to your choice.

Lew- Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I feel a lot better and would definately find our about the injection as opposed to the cream. I personally don't think can be in the room, but dh said he would if he needed to be. The one thing I have read is that the sooner they do it the better, here in Canada they said they can do it upto 4 weeks after baby is born, I would like to do it earlier, probably during the first week or so. Seems to be better for the babies, plus their skin heals so much faster the younger they are. Thanks again everyone, I'm more confident about this now than before I posted this question.

Hey Tanya2, I am about 2-3 hours away from you, up north. We had our son circumsized at 2 weeks old, and he was 6 weeks early. I gave him some tylenol before the appointment, like right before we left, that helped. Plus keep lots of vasiline on the area too, that will prevent it from sticking to the diaper. I didn't find Joel real fussy after words. He really didn't seem to concerned with it.

Our son was circumcised in the hospital at two days of age. They will do that hear if there is not a tramatic birth. If the birth is tramatic (bruising, breathing difficulties, etc) then they wait two weeks. They came to get him in our room. They gave him a dum dum to suck on during surgery. My friend who is a birthing coach and teaches prenatal classes happened to walk by the nursery and stopped to see my son with the drs way in the back room. She said they were working on him and he was lying still sucking on the the sucker. He never acted like it bothered him afterwards either.

Thanks torbman and Cabbie, I'm sure glad to hear that all babies didn't seem affected by it later on. I can't wait till mine is over and done with. Anyways for now just hoping all is healthy and well with the baby and that labor goes smoothly. Thanks again.

We were present for both of our sons' circumcisions and I strongly recommend that you USE ANESTHESIA. Do not let the doctor sweet talk you into doing it without pain relief. The old, experienced OB/GYN who did my first son convinced us that the pressure of the plastibell would make the cut virtually painless, but he neglected to inform us that he'd make preparatory snips with the scissors prior to the pressure application. My little infant son was screaming in pain. It was horrible. Immediately afterward he was just fine but I was traumatized. So with my second son, we insisted on both EMLA cream 2 hours in advance of the procedure, and injected anesthesia just prior to the procedure. He didn't squirm or cry once. It was DRAMATICALLY better than the first time.

I would also recommend getting a detailed description of exactly how the doctor will do the procedure and what you expect the result to look like. Since we had two different doctors do the circ's, the two boys' penises look a little different (the first one has a little more foreskin). My second son is just 2 weeks old, so his could change as he grows and his pediatrician doesn't seem concerned.

As for circ aftercare, we just applied Vaseline at every diaper change for about 4 days. No gauze. With the first circ, there was gauze and I used warm, moist wash cloths to loosen the gauze before I slowly and gently unwound it.