No wonder so many military families circ...

[2lilsweetfoxes]

One factor is that a lot of families are from high-circing areas. Another may be the pamphlet given to parents when the baby is born on basic baby care that I got when my kids were born. There is a paragraph in there about caring for a circumcised penis and for an intact penis. For the circumcised boy, it just says to clean gently and apply vaseline and gauze until the wound heals and the ring falls off in about a week, then no special care is required. The intact boy? Retract and wash gently until he can do it on his own. I brought it up with the nurse, also giving her the latest info about just leaving it alone, and she declared that it was correct and the fact that I left my son alone and he has never had a problem was just good luck on my part. So, they set the boys up to be circumcised later--and then the parents of the boys that "had" to be circumcised later tell their stories as warnings to new parents who just go ahead and have it done.

[tutucrazy]

naking...
wow, that is so sad! Do you know who prints it? If you can get the name of the person who prints it, i'd bet DOC would contacy them.

[BlessedMommy2006]

Wow, perhaps you could bring up the fact that the AAP even tells you not to retract and clean. They definitely need education.

[lrlittle]

Show them this:

http://www.aap.org/publiced/br_uncircumcised.htm

[perspective]

Originally Posted by lrlittle

Show them this:

http://www.aap.org/publiced/br_uncircumcised.htm

Its interesting on that they advice the use of soap to clean under the foreskin. Kind of a harsh product to use on such a sensitive area. Washing with water should be enough. Although if a parent REALLY wants to use some kind of product, I highly suggest some kind of "feminine" wash such as "Summer's Eve". It does not contain soap, and is designed to clean those tricky areas where skin meets mucous membrane. So its perfect for cleaning under the foreskin.

On the product bottle it says "Enjoy Being a Woman" but its funny because guys have just as sensitive areas that need to be cleaned in the same kind of ways. It really should not be called a "feminine wash" but a "genital wash".

[minkajane]

I've had bad luck with military docs and circ too. When DS was born, his ped asked if we were circ'ing. We said no and he shrugged and said "Yeah, it's unnecessary, but I don't try to discourage parents from getting it done because it's a procedure and I LIKE doing procedures!" Word for word quote. My jaw hit the floor and I couldn't even respond. DS was never left alone with that man.

When DS had a yeast infection that affected his foreskin, the first word out of the doctor's mouth was circ (different doc). Another time, when he had a mild bug she insisted on a catheter to do a urinalysis ("Since he's uncircumcised, there's probably some bacteria there and it wouldn't be a clean catch.") for which he was retracted (gently and only partly, thankfully, and it didn't seem to bug him). And the nurse went on and on about how many boys they have come in later that "need" circs. I told her about the doc who recommended circ for the yeast infection, which she agreed was unnecessary, and hopefully made her wonder if those later circs were really necessary.

[treemom2]

On our base, you can't get appts on Thursdays because that is circ day at the clinic I honestly can't believe insurance (Tricare) still pays for it. . .

[FiveLittleMonkeys]

We've had the exact opposite experience with military care. Our kids' primary care doc when we had our son made a point of telling us that circumcision wasn't necessary and that an intact foreskin is easy to care for. Our son is almost 8 now, and we've never had a provider say anything about the fact that he is intact.

I guess it just depends on the provider! Or maybe we've just been lucky.

[Papai]

Originally Posted by perspective

Its interesting on that they advice the use of soap to clean under the foreskin. Kind of a harsh product to use on such a sensitive area. Washing with water should be enough. Although if a parent REALLY wants to use some kind of product, I highly suggest some kind of "feminine" wash such as "Summer's Eve". It does not contain soap, and is designed to clean those tricky areas where skin meets mucous membrane. So its perfect for cleaning under the foreskin.

On the product bottle it says "Enjoy Being a Woman" but its funny because guys have just as sensitive areas that need to be cleaned in the same kind of ways. It really should not be called a "feminine wash" but a "genital wash".

I've used soap to wash under the foreskin all my life and never had any irritation or problems with it. Water alone doesn't do a good job of getting rid of odors and/or semen.

Granted, my parents never washed up there with soap when I was a kid. This was something I did on my own after puberty.

I don't think soap is bad, but if you find it's irritating, switch brands and try a different one.

[kayla.blair]

Originally Posted by Papai

I've used soap to wash under the foreskin all my life and never had any irritation or problems with it. Water alone doesn't do a good job of getting rid of odors and/or semen.

Granted, my parents never washed up there with soap when I was a kid. This was something I did on my own after puberty.

I don't think soap is bad, but if you find it's irritating, switch brands and try a different one.

But you as an adult also know when you have all the soap off... a child either wouldnt reallly care (duh cuz theres better things to do, lol), and a parent would rinse as much as possible, but YOU know the feeling of soap on you, even when its not visible... maybe a parent wouldnt notice.... ?

[Papai]

Originally Posted by kayla.blair

But you as an adult also know when you have all the soap off... a child either wouldnt reallly care (duh cuz theres better things to do, lol), and a parent would rinse as much as possible, but YOU know the feeling of soap on you, even when its not visible... maybe a parent wouldnt notice.... ?

It's definitely possible that a child wouldn't get all the soap out. But isn't that true of every part of the body? Including the anus?

I wouldn't even bother with soap and washing under the foreskin before the teen years though. My main reason for washing with soap and water is to cleanse the penis of ejaculate. Little boys don't have to worry about that until they reach puberty. So before then, just wash the outside.

[SunshineSwirl]

Our son was born in a military hospital and the day he was to have it done, my husband finally joined my side. So, when the doc came around to ask if we were doing it (expecting to take the baby as we hadn't said no yet), my husband said no and the doctor actually thanked my husband! He also seemed to be up on his info as he was spitting out statistics left and right before he left the room! And the first doctor said some annoying things (retract and wash type of stuff), but wasn't against it.

Sorry you had a frustrating experience!

[Oubliette8]

When I was a little girl my parents had me use soap to clean my genitals. Sometimes I wouldn't get it all of and I would become red and inflamed. It was quite painful. My mother was a doctor and apparently knew that soap was irritating, as she'd always tell me it was because I didn't get all the soap off.

Now that I'm grown, I do use soap to clean down there and it doesn't give me a problem. It may be that children are more sensitive (thus why bubble bath can be more irritating to younger children than old) or it could just be that as you grow older you get better at washing it all off.

I also know that soaps in that area ARE irritating to some adults. I think its not strictly necessary, and causes problems for some. Some people can use soap with no issues, but others will encounter problems, I wouldn't use it on kids at all in that area. -Oubliette