sheena

I just found out I'm having a boy and don't know weather to circumcise him or not. I've read a bit online but want some personal feedback. What did you choose and what were your reasons?

Seattle_mom

We have a boy and a girl, though with our first (our girl) we didn't know the sex so we made the decision then. We chose not to circ our children. It was actually a very easy decision for us. My brothers are not circ'd and my mother was very vocal about her choice; so I grew up thinking that was normal and the "right thing" to do. My husband is from a muslim culture where it is imperative that boys are circumcized. My husband, however, left the religion as a teen, so while his mother may feel strongly about it, religious reasoning didn't come into it for us.

Ultimately, our biggest reason for not circ'ing was feeling that we do not have a right to make unnecessary alterations to our child's body. We also feel the same way about piercing a child's ears (while not as permanent or painful, it is still an alteration of the body). We decided we could not assume that our son would want this done because most men who are not circumcized do not do it later in life. And since there are no medical reasons for it, we opted not to.

Of course if our son needed a circumcision because of problems (which are rare, but do arise occasionally) then we would do it as a medical procedure. But it is not something we would consider doing for cosmetic or cultural reasons.

My husband is circ'd and wishes he wasn't. My son will have the option to do that when he is older if he wants to; though I doubt he will.

babyboomer

If I will have a boy, I'd prefer to have him circumcised when he's older. I have heard a lot of stories about this and they are not good. Babies can get infected at this early stage. And many said that it's not good for a man to have circumcision upon birth, I am not sure as to why, but I'd rather not have my baby boy be circumcised that early.

LoveMaGirl

I would never circumcise a boy of mine. It is nothing but a cosmetic procedure and it's popularity in America is falling-and it never was so popular in other countries.

If you really want to have him circumcised then perhaps you should watch some videos of how it is done before you do. You should know the pain and suffering that you are considering putting your baby boy through.

twitch

My son is not and will not be Circ'd. I don't believe in it.

Leah

We opted not to do it because we didn't get a chance to do it when he was just born and we felt it was unnecessary to put him through that kind of pain.

bun.in.the.oven

If we have a boy, we will not circumsize him. My husband isn't circumsized, and he's happy his mom made that decision, so that's what we're going to do to. And we're having the baby in a free-standing birth center where they don't do it, we'd have to take him to a urologist and our insurance wouldn't cover it.

bundleofjoy

Ever hear of cultural differences? Not everyone can spell proper english and still use internet slang as well as you can. Perhaps you should take your own advice instead of acting insensitive and ignorant.

On topic: I'm not sure what I would have picked had I had a son. I've read information about both sides, but never really had to make the choice. I'd probably opt to not do it but offer to pay for the procedure if my son wanted it as an older man.

preggersfinally

For me, it's not a religious or aesthetic necessity though. My nephew wasn't circumcised as an infant and the poor kid went through several terrible infections under the foreskin before having to be circumcised when he was 6 years old. It wasn't from not being clean, either, as his parents were scrupulous about it. His last infection was so severe that there was concern over possible sterility. His having to have the procedure when he was older was rough as he was extremely uncomfortable for about three weeks and had to be out of school. I am afraid of something like that happening so we have already discussed this. My husband is circumcised just because it was the thing to do when he was born but he really doesn't care either way.

organicmum

I was just watching about this on Oprah the other day. They had the male version of "ask Dr Oz" day.

I would have to say I still think circumsizing isn't a terrible thing. Many things are done to our children that are painful when they are little. We saw off their life cord, we poke them with needles and inject them with dead or "harmless" live viruses and preservatives, etc. I don't think I've ever met a man whose life was a tragedy because his parents chose to cut off his foreskin when he was little. Its one of those choices you have to make and will always second guess yourself on, just like piercing ears on girls.