It just occured to me as ironic....

[BlessedMommy2006]

that nobody ever gives us intact girl "care" instructions!

Can you imagine what they would be:

"Now to care for an uncircumcised girl, you just gently clean her externally during diaper changes and bathe her in warm clear water with no soap. If poop gets near the vaginal opening, gently wipe it away. If you think that she's really messy, don't go digging around in the vagina, just plop her in the bath. Don't aggressively scrub her clitoral hood or retract it to clean and don't do douches, those are totally unnecessary and can introduce infections."

It's funny how everybody knows instinctively that you don't go digging around to clean the girl parts, but that same instinct doesn't always carry over to intact boys! Must be cultural brainwashing or something.

Do people actually need "care instructions" in the countries where RIC isn't practiced such as Europe?

[Owlpainter]

Just leave it alone

I have this battle nearly every time my husband bathes our 2-year-old intact son. Hubby just thinks that something must be done with his son's penis. Should it be retracted? Is that natural? Should we use soap to clean in there? I just have to tell him, "Just leave it alone!" I point out to him that he did not insist on soaping down our three daughters vaginas or retracting anything down there! It is hard for those who are not educated and receive so much misinformation on this subject, that it can be very frustrating. Thank goodness for this panel! I feel like I am the only voice of reason in my community!

[tlh]

The circumcision rate has been so high for so long that everyone forgot how to take care of boys,but I did find some info on girls


://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/penis_care.html


://www.pregnancytoday.com/articles/newborn-care/newborn-genital-care-6172/


://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/dailycare/genitals/#4

[holyhelianthus]

Maybe it is because we were young when our oldest was born (18 and 17) and they thought we were idiots but we did get care instructions for our daughter's area. I am 8 years older than my little sister and worked in my grandmother's daycare so I just sort of nodded my head and smiled but yeah sometimes you do get those types of care instructions.

Ridiculous in both cases, IMO.

[eepster]

Well this might be TMI, but I got female care instructions after my first visit to a GYN, b/c I had been cleaning too vigorously with soap, and it was causing issues.

I know giving out these kinds of instructions might seem silly to us here, but in reality the US has a lot of personal hygene hangups and issues.

[Onemagicmummy]

im in UK, i had a son first, thena daughter, in two different hospitals in two different towns, 180 miles apart (and 27 months too) (i also have another boy and girl and a girl on the way)

the care instructions i got give in both cases was the same

"only clean what is seen" that was it, just wipe or bathe.

Kiz

[fruitful womb]

Originally Posted by Onemagicmummy

im in UK, i had a son first, thena daughter, in two different hospitals in two different towns, 180 miles apart (and 27 months too) (i also have another boy and girl and a girl on the way)

the care instructions i got give in both cases was the same

"only clean what is seen" that was it, just wipe or bathe.

Kiz

UK mommy, did ANY personel ask you if you wanted your ds circumcised? I doubt they do, but wanted to know for sure. They'll ask here which royally ticks me off!:

ETA, to stay on topic:
I think the simple the better, "wipe like a figner and don't retract" should be the default, rather than soliciting circs. My MW gave me zero instructions on the care for my intact boys when they were born. They also didn't ask if I was going to circ either... Thats why I'm so partial to them. When my dd was born, they told me to wipe from front to back.

[Onemagicmummy]

it was never even mentioned, not at all by anyone at all.

untill i joined MDC all i knew about circ was that its was done for religious reasons or if there were medical problems such as tight forskin when a boy was "older" other than that it was a non issue, not ever mentioned by anyone.

i know of 2 males that have been Circed DH's dad (eww i really could of lived a million years and not know that bit of info *shudders*) and my sons friend from school who was circed at age 5 due to repeat infections, tight forskin etc, at the time i was like oh well whatever, i later learned that his mum had been after getting him done for years and refused to do anything else to help him. she admited to hating forskins had asked her then bf to get done too (he refused) and said her son's future wife will thank her. i felt sick. i feel for that poor boy.

other than that i have never met/seen/heard of circs being done in UK.

Kiz

[fruitful womb]

Originally Posted by Onemagicmummy

it was never even mentioned, not at all by anyone at all.

untill i joined MDC all i knew about circ was that its was done for religious reasons or if there were medical problems such as tight forskin when a boy was "older" other than that it was a non issue, not ever mentioned by anyone.

i know of 2 males that have been Circed DH's dad (eww i really could of lived a million years and not know that bit of info *shudders*) and my sons friend from school who was circed at age 5 due to repeat infections, tight forskin etc, at the time i was like oh well whatever, i later learned that his mum had been after getting him done for years and refused to do anything else to help him. she admited to hating forskins had asked her then bf to get done too (he refused) and said her son's future wife will thank her. i felt sick. i feel for that poor boy.

other than that i have never met/seen/heard of circs being done in UK.

Kiz

Wow, thanks Kiz for your input. Very interesting.