I took my ds to a 3yo well child check yesterday. He hadn't been to the doctor since his 2yo well child and I wanted to maintain a relationship with the practitioner. Though I'm not wild about this office, I haven't had a problem with them before and they're totally okay with our family not vaccinating.
At one point the resident says "So, at the 3 yo check up we make sure that his foreskin is retractable."
Me: "Everything I've read says that foreskins retract at different ages and his might not be retractable for years yet and that retracting can cause more harm than good so I'm not comfortable with you touching his penis."
Resident: "That's simply not true. You can gently retract the foreskin to see how far back it will go."
Me: "Why do we need to know this?"
Resident replies something like this: "We need to make sure when he pees he's not ballooning and the pee is getting stuck in his foreskin and going back up his urethra and causing UTIs and causing renal scarring, which is VERY DANGEROUS. We need to make sure everything is okay so he doesn't need a circumcision later."
Me:"I've never noticed any ballooning when he pees. His foreskin never looks infected. He never acts like he's in pain when he pees so I'm sure he's not having UTIs. I don't see any reason to check his foreskin."
Resident: "So, you're refusing to let me exam your son's penis?"
Me: "Yes."
We finish the exam with her. When the MD whose practice we're in comes in she repeats how important it is that they examen his penis. I repeat what I said above. She replies with "You don't have to forcibly retract the foreskin, you can gently retract it. I'm Jewish and I didn't circumcise my son! I went against my religion to not circumcise my son and I still retracted him!" (At this point she's speaking quite loudly)
In the end, I still refused this part of the exam (they wrote this boldly on my son's records). And I left the office feeling really bad about the whole experience.
So, I would love some reassurance that they are off their rocker and there is no need to gently retract my 3yo son's foreskin, especially if he is having absolutely no issues with it.
Weirdly enough, I met up at a park afterwards with some people I knew and was ranting about my experience. One woman asked who my pediatrician was and when I told her she said they used the same doctor and they'd just been there for her son's 4yo exam last month and they office had said NOTHING about retraction. In fact, she can't remember them saying anything about retraction to her even though her 4yo and 6yo son (intact) sons have been going to that office for a few years.
At one point the resident says "So, at the 3 yo check up we make sure that his foreskin is retractable."
Me: "Everything I've read says that foreskins retract at different ages and his might not be retractable for years yet and that retracting can cause more harm than good so I'm not comfortable with you touching his penis."
Resident: "That's simply not true. You can gently retract the foreskin to see how far back it will go."
Me: "Why do we need to know this?"
Resident replies something like this: "We need to make sure when he pees he's not ballooning and the pee is getting stuck in his foreskin and going back up his urethra and causing UTIs and causing renal scarring, which is VERY DANGEROUS. We need to make sure everything is okay so he doesn't need a circumcision later."
Me:"I've never noticed any ballooning when he pees. His foreskin never looks infected. He never acts like he's in pain when he pees so I'm sure he's not having UTIs. I don't see any reason to check his foreskin."
Resident: "So, you're refusing to let me exam your son's penis?"
Me: "Yes."
We finish the exam with her. When the MD whose practice we're in comes in she repeats how important it is that they examen his penis. I repeat what I said above. She replies with "You don't have to forcibly retract the foreskin, you can gently retract it. I'm Jewish and I didn't circumcise my son! I went against my religion to not circumcise my son and I still retracted him!" (At this point she's speaking quite loudly)
In the end, I still refused this part of the exam (they wrote this boldly on my son's records). And I left the office feeling really bad about the whole experience.
So, I would love some reassurance that they are off their rocker and there is no need to gently retract my 3yo son's foreskin, especially if he is having absolutely no issues with it.
Weirdly enough, I met up at a park afterwards with some people I knew and was ranting about my experience. One woman asked who my pediatrician was and when I told her she said they used the same doctor and they'd just been there for her son's 4yo exam last month and they office had said NOTHING about retraction. In fact, she can't remember them saying anything about retraction to her even though her 4yo and 6yo son (intact) sons have been going to that office for a few years.
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You're awesome Momalea! You have an incredibly strong backbone!
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