Will he be ok?

[MommaSugarBear]

Hello all,
I am new here (but I’ve been lurking for a while) and know that this is the best place to ask my question. My son is 4 months old and we went for his four month check up today, I was shocked and appalled that the nurse practitioner who sees my son tried to retract his foreskin. He has never attempted to do so before. He did it so fast and I was so surprised it took a second for my brain to register what was happening, when it did I of course [I]yelled[I] out: Whoa! No! What are you doing! He says " Don't worry I wasn't trying to retract it, I was just seeing if it would" yea huh whatever. Needless to say we won’t be going back there again. What I need to know is; will my son be alright? He didn't cry out or anything and was smiling pretty soon afterwards. I am worried that there might have been some damaged caused (If there is then no one can help that NP). Is there anything I should pay attention too or look out for? I would love some advice and peace of mind if I could have it. I think this whole experience has upset me more than my son. I spent the whole drive home being alternately angry at the NP, myself and crying.
Thanks for reading this and hopefully someone can help.

[tennisdude23]

Yes, he will be fine. Its pretty difficult to damage the foreskin actually because it's very durable. If the child exhibits no reaction, this usually means that he is ok. In the very vast majority of cases, only multiple forceful retractions cause scar tissue.

[glongley]

The attorney for Doctors Opposing Circumcision, John Geisheker, will send a letter to the nurse practitioner and his practice pro bono (free) on your behalf telling them what they did was wrong and the consequences. It explains the physiology of intact penile development, and makes clear the possible legal ramifications of forcible premature retraction. It isn't a letter stating you'll sue but it is fully referenced and ought to get their attention.


Email him at [e-mail]


Before you contact John, you will need the following information:

The name of the practitioner who did this, the name of his/her practice and their (snail) mailing address.

The name of the hospital where the doctor has privileges, (the hospital where they practice) and the mailing address. (even if it didn’t happen at the hospital)

The name of the CEO or Administrator of the hospital. (even if it didn't happen in the hospital, find out where the offending doctor has privileges and send it to those hospitals)

The name of the hospital's risk manager.

The name of the head of the department (OB, peds, emergency, etc.)

Letters will also be sent to:

The state medical board in your state.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (hospitals fear them like a boogeyman)



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To understand why what this NP did is wrong, please check out these links:



http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/

http://www.kindredmedia.com.au/libra...ractions/401/1

The latter article includes a lot of the information that is included in the packet that is sent to the doctors.

It is important when events like this happen, that some kind of feedback is given (even just a personal letter, and a copy of the AAP Care of the Intact Penis handout - if you don't want to go the whole nine yards of having the DOC packet sent). Otherwise, this guy will continue to attempt to retract intact boys, which is both completely unnecessary and potentially harmful.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

odds are he will be fine but that dosnt make what the NP did right he needs to know to keep his hands off other boys.

[eepster]

We get so hung up about the no retraction thing, b/c there is a risk of it causing damage (with no benefit,) not b/c it always causes damage. Since you stopped the NP pretty quickly and the baby didn't complain, I wouldn't worry too much.

If he is fussy when he wets his diaper, plain water and a little diaper cream will help.

We know how horrifying it is to worry that your baby was hurt.

[MommaSugarBear]

Thank you!

Thank you for the replies!
I feel much better knowing that my son will be ok. My husband and I decided that the best course of action is to contact DOC and let the NP have it. Hopefully he will learn from this experience and not retract any future boys, I can't imagine how many times he has done this before to baby boys and their mothers who did not know that he was doing is wrong. I am sure that they will know exactly who called in the DOC on them, if not, then I am also of thinking of sending a letter myself, that way they will know for sure.
Thank you all once again for the information and support!

p.s.
In the future I will be asking the new ped if he/she knows how to take care of the foreskin; if they answer anything other than leave it alone, it will be time to move on or inform them and see how receptive they are to changing their policy.

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

I had something similar happen with my son. We had switched practices and the NP went to retract. I asked her not to. She told me she was going to anyway, and proceeded to retract. I flipped out at her but she just rolled her eyes at me. I went home and wrote a lengthy letter to the patient relations director and sent info from Doctor's Opposing Circ, AAP, etc and highlighted portions of the documents. I got a phone call of apology and now we only see the doctor (who is against retracting). Things have been fine and thankfully he wasn't injured.

I'm sorry you and your DS had to go through this.

[BunniMummi]

He will be fine. It sounds like while he didn't need to do that he wasn't actually trying to forcefully retract. There is a good amount of wiggle room under the foreskin, pulling the skin around a little without using force isn't going to hurt anything. Some of the things I've seen my sons do to their own penises would make grown men cry.

I'm not surprised that medical professionals would be curious about how far along retraction is when they don't run into all that many intact kids. I think too many aren't actually trained in what normal penis care/development is. I would actually use it as a chance to start a dialogue with the NP and find out what his views on circ are and what knowledge he has. Include a warning though that parents that have chosen not to circ are going to be extra jumpy about anyone messing unnecessarily with their children's penises. A little literature wouldn't hurt.