What should I pass on?

[Tizzy]

A friend of mine is expecting another boy this year. She has had ongoing issues with her older son (3yrs old) because he hates baths and has had repeated infections. She has actually considered having him circumsized but some other mutual friends and myself have strongly encouraged her not to.

Now she's pretty much decided that she wants to have the expected baby circumcised to avoid all these issues. Her husband doesn't care either way.

I asked if she minded me passing on some info, she said it was no problem but that she has probably already read it anyway. I told her my strong opinions to which she listened, I pointed out all the risks, she's religious and I even pointed out that God didn't make us with extra parts the needed to be removed

Anyway...help me out here What resources can I give her that would strongly sway her into changing her mind??

[Yulia_R]

If I had to guess she (or her doctor/babysitter/etc) have been retracting the poor boy. That can be the reason he hates baths. Wouldn't you if every time you have a bath someone would rip off your finger nails from your finger beds (which is very similar to premature retraction). And of course, if you keep ripping your finger nails off again and again, sooner or later they will get infected. Retraction may also lead to scar tissue growth (leading to true phimisis in the future) as well as permanent nerve damage.

No one should ever retract a boy’s foreskin except the boy himself. If her doctor does that she better tell him to never touch the foreskin again.

And of course if he was given antibiotics, he needs to be on probiotics for quite some time to avoid yeast infection (which is true for everyone, regardless of circ status).

[robertandenith]

It looks like she is been retracting the boy or bathing him with too much soaps. I suggest to point that out to her.

Please send her this video, there is a link for download you can do so and distribute all you want

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...65256830319025

and the Intact Care brochure:
http://www.asnatureintended.info/upl...74/babyboy.pdf

[latinalonestar]

With proper care infections are RARE. If he has a yeast infection and she is treating him with antibiotics she is making it worse. Also she must know that normal separation does include some redness, swelling, itching, irritation, soreness, ballooning and pearls. My bet is that she is trying to clean him with soaps causing a flora imbalance and possibly a yeast infections. The genitals should only be washed with water, NO SOAP. Next time she suspects an infection, she should have a culture done by swabbing the tip, NO RETRACTION. This will tell her if there is a yeast or bacterial infection. If he has yeast she needs to treat it with an antifungal ointment. If it comes back negative then it is normal separation. Tell her to leave his foreskin alone, no manipulation! Here are some links, print these for her...

Care of intact boy:
http://www.cirp.org/pages/parents/peron1/

Normal separation:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=764732?

Protect intact boy:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/ne...uncircson.html

Avoiding circ after the neonatal period:
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/pamphlet7.html
(only medical reasons for circ are malignancy, gangrene, frostbite, or serious trama)

Forcible retraction:
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/pamphlet6.html

[PolarMommy]

Tell her that she does not have the right to take away the function and the pleasure the foreskin means to her children. Amputation of a body part is only an option if it's done to save one's life (why should her little baby loose a body part just because his older brother has had infections???)

Tell her that circumcision is extremely painful and she doesn't want to subject her son to that. And finally, tell your friend that when her baby is born, it is perfect, it is precious and she should keep people with sharp objects away from him!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

First find out exactly how she has cared for her ds up to now. If she has been retracting to clean she has caused the problems. If she has allowed dr's to retract him during exams then that is where the problem lies.

To figure out how to approch her then you need to find out the reason her ds is having issues.