a little survey - circumcision?

[Sadie]

Without being biased or judgmental or anything else one reading this might assume... I was hoping to get an informal survey of people to post whether or not they circumcised their sons (without giving reasons for or against doing so). I am just curious! And, to be the first, I did not.

UPDATE - I was hoping for just some yes or no answers... I just checked this discussion after not reading it for a while. Seems to have gotten a little heated and/or weird. So, I am closing it. Thanks for the responses!

[Anci]

my husband has a son ( from his previous marriage) and they did not circumcised him.

[The Peveteaux-Goldmans]

Hey Sadie,

I'm glad you started this. We just found out we're expecting a boy and since our first baby was a girl, we never had the circumcision discussion. Now we are, and are on different sides of the issue but are both willing to listen/read/discuss. I hope people weigh in as I'm very curious as to how many people are making what choices. And I'm also curious as to why people do and do not (even though I know you said without giving reasons) so if anyone wants to share, you can send me a message outside of this forum.

Thanks!
April

[SAEBausch]

We did.

[Jim]

hi i did not have my son circumcised
there is no need to and in Canada where we live most people don't do it anymore
for more info check out blog

http://nocircumcision.blogspot.com

[Anci]

I would like to know the reasons people do it ( besides religion, of course)...like I said my husband's son is not and we are planning to have another baby and if it's gonna be a boy, we won't circumcise him, I don't really see the need for it.

[Sadie]

Without being disrespectful, I think the main reason people do it is cosmetic. When we interviewed a pediatrician before our son's birth she said it was fine not to circumcise, but that we should if the father is, that way there is no confusion, explaining, etc. This is the only reference I can give is for not doing it: http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-cir.... However, I don't want to make this post about arguing not to do it. Just that I have read that the rate of circumcision is dropping in the US, and that by the time my son is full-grown at least 50 percent of men will not be circumcised, so that is why I wanted to take a poll.

[Anci]

oh no, you're not disrespectful at all! That's what I thought too, that besides religion, the reason people do it is cosmetic.I just thought there may be other reasons...because I personally don't see any, but again that's just me. I used to live in Europe and over there people don't circumcise as much as they do here...When I was in college, I was a nanny and the little boy I took care of wasn't circumcised either.
I think every parent chooses what he thinks it;s best for their kid...As for that article, I find it great, and I absolutely agree with everything...I did some research on my own, when I got pregnant with my daughter ( before finding out the sex of course) and it only reinforced my decision on this matter...

[aussiemum21]

Some parents will Circumcise as it can prevent infections, when a baby boy gets an infection for what ever reason, in some cases it can get that infected that they need a circumcision well after they where born, which is not something you would want. I didnt get my sonn circumcised but if I knew at the time that it can help prevent infection then I would have done it, I only hope that my son doesnt get such a bad infection now, as I would hate for him to go through it

[Jason]

We did not circumsize our son. When I initially found out the baby's sex, I thought circumcision was the right choice. My wife asked me to reconsider, so I looked up information on my own, and then after a few days of research and thought, agreed with her. The reason I thought circumcision was the right choice inititially are the standard reasons: so his penis would look like mine, and so he wouldn't be teased in the locker room. I ultimately decided against it because a five minute conversation with my son will tell him why he doesn't look like me; because he won't be teased in the locker room because men don't stand around looking at each other's junk; and most importantly because circumcision is very painful... I wanted to bond and hold him and welcome him to the world, not send him off for a painful amputation that would leave him shut down for the rest of his very first day here on earth. I'm thankful that my wife asked me to reconsider, and I think we made the right choice.

Every doctor and nurse in the hospital breathed a sigh of relief when they came in to the hospital room, asked about circumcision (it happened at least three times), and we told them that we did not want the boy circumcised. Apparently medical profesionals are generally against the practice, but don't feel it is their place to express their opinion.

[Anci]

babble article on circumcision...
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/10/06/A-G...

Assuming daddy is foreskin-less as well. Their similarity, anatomically speaking, is something they can bond over, like when they play catch. that was hilarious LOOL

[Kathleen]

Good post!

We were lucky- they (the doctors and nurses) didn't even ask us about it at the hospital either time- I guess we would've had to ask about it if we'd wanted it done. I think it says a lot when the assumption or the norm at the hospital is that you won't want it.

[Alicia Jessmon]

Hmm well my husband and I never wanted to do so even though we were asked a minimum of 5 times in the hospital if we wanted to. Our reasons for not doing so were very simple. No real reason for it in this day and age. My husband isn't circumcised and saw it as genital mutilation, as up there with female genital mutilation. I've never seen a circumcised penis so that whole 'it looks weird' aspect didn't come into play. Not to mention, you don't need to worry about the foreskin till they are old enough to be yanking it around the potty...so why cut it? The argument 'they'll be laughed at in the showers' made me laugh. In our high school there were no showers after gym, it was strictly forbidden so thus no worry about boys seeing penis. Ah but really if the boy isn't circumcised there is always penis origami. ^^ I'll stop now...though the word penis is funny.