I really am glad we live in the UK

[petra_william]

everytime i read or hear about stories about bodged circ's, or even babies dying, or doctors and nurses trying to retract a babys foreskin or the worry about care etc... makes me appreciate where we live so much more.
ds is nearly 3. his penis and testicles got checked at birth and at 6 months, to see whether the opening was at the tip of the penis and whether the testicles had descended. that. was. it.
since then the only person to touch his penis was him and dp and i when wiping him after nappy changes. washed with water. no bother, no worry, no fuss. its a non - issue and im so glad about it!

i think what you intactavists are doing is great! i have a few friends in the US, none of them with boys (yet) but will be raising awareness of it should the time come.

just wanted to say that

[oliversmum2000]

me too

[BlessedMommy2006]

You are lucky! Many of us United States moms have to be on guard lest anyone mess with our son's foreskin or claim that he needs to be circ'ed.

May our climate one day be like yours.

[rabbitmum]

Originally Posted by BlessedMommy2006

May our climate one day be like yours.

I hope so too! The other day my three-year-old was exploring his foreskin, pulling it etc., and asked me: "What is this? Do all boys have this?" and I said "It's your foreskin, yes, all boys have that", knowing that I wasn't really telling the whole truth. But they should have!

[Claire and Boys]

It always weirds me out, the whole fuss about the foreskin being such a ticking timebomb to some parents in the US. When you live in a country where almost all men and boys have theirs firmly attached, and no one seems to be walking about with rotting stinking penises just lining up to get their foreskins chopped.

It's all such a non issue here. You don't freak about redness or retracting or whatever. Doctors don't harrass you about it, relatives don't comment. I really couldn't believe all the furore over it when reading American parenting sites. Couldn't believe that anyone actually advocates surgery on healthy infants, for something that is so normal (natural body part)

[Sileree]

My bf is from Scotland, and his brother's wife is having a baby. We're going over for x-mas and it's actually nice to not have worry about talking to her about it.

[BlessedMommy2006]

Originally Posted by Sileree

My bf is from Scotland, and his brother's wife is having a baby. We're going over for x-mas and it's actually nice to not have worry about talking to her about it.

Yeah, it's very nice for sure! They don't do RIC in Scotland.

[Seie]

Yep - Happy to be in Europe too. It really does make no sense for a European when you hear about how big an issue foreskin is in the US.
I feel strongly against this, but since noone here circ's apart from for religious reasons, then I don't feel I can do a whole lot from here. Any ideas on how we can work for the cause from over here?

[KK Slider]

You can always give some money to Intact America or another org like that. Those Euros are worth a lot more these days in terms of US dollars. Other than that, joining the facebook group for Intact America and sharing your opinion is helpful too. It is good and necessary for Americans to be told frequently that circumcision is completely unnatural and unnecessary and uncommon!

[Claire and Boys]

I donated to Intact America and am vocal on several message boards, Twitter etc against circumcision. I don't know really what else I can do from here, but I'm trying.

[BlessedMommy2006]

Originally Posted by Claire and Boys

I donated to Intact America and am vocal on several message boards, Twitter etc against circumcision. I don't know really what else I can do from here, but I'm trying.

I just wanted to say that I would LOVE to be in your position and not have to worry about people around me circ'ing. Almost all of my acquaintances have had their sons circ'ed.

Thanks for doing what you can to promote the cause anyway!

[Super~Single~Mama]

I wish I lived in a place where I didn't hear about babies being circ'd too.

Although I will say that I am SO SO SO glad that my BF was open to not circ'ing our son (he is circ'd), and that my mom told me not to!! (my 2 brothers weren't circ's b/c they were adopted from Korea and our mom didn't want to put them under general anesthesia when they arrived - thank goodness she had a good ped that advised her not to do it!)

[BunniMummi]

Yeah, I had never given it a thought (either way really) before moving from the US to Norway but after having two boys here it seems insane that it's still done in the States. I'm so glad I had them here where it has never even been brought up by doctors. I know my father in law did a curious peek with DS1 knowing that I am American but aside from that it's so far beyond a non issue that people would look at you like you were nuts if you started talking about it.

On a side note, my fil was born in England during WWII (many Norwegian military familes were over there while Noway was occupied) and he was circed without question right after birth as part of the standard "be right back, going to clean up the baby" phase. I think his mother is still somewhat shocked. Good to know that the UK was quick to change their standard practices.

Keep fighting the good fight!

[Conifer]

Hi,

Just wanted to say that until I started reading Mothering, I just thought getting circumcised was just what you did with baby boys. Just realizing it was a choice made the decision a no-brainer! It's such a common thing here. Thank goodness DH was supportive when I brought is up. He was like..."gee, I never really thought about it. Ok, if it's not necessary, let's not do it"

I think just getting the word out that it isn't necessary and you have a choice is all that a lot of people need to hear. Maybe occasionally post on more mainstream boards? I tried to find out more info on other sites like babycenter.com and they have nothing on the issue. I am so happy we decided not to circ.

[BlessedMommy2006]

Originally Posted by Conifer

Hi,

Just wanted to say that until I started reading Mothering, I just thought getting circumcised was just what you did with baby boys. Just realizing it was a choice made the decision a no-brainer! It's such a common thing here. Thank goodness DH was supportive when I brought is up. He was like..."gee, I never really thought about it. Ok, if it's not necessary, let's not do it"

I think just getting the word out that it isn't necessary and you have a choice is all that a lot of people need to hear. Maybe occasionally post on more mainstream boards? I tried to find out more info on other sites like babycenter.com and they have nothing on the issue. I am so happy we decided not to circ.

Hi there! I'm in Michigan too, and one of my friends recently commented that she didn't know that she had a choice NOT TO circ. I'm guessing that if she knew that she could have refused, then she probably would have.

Unfortunately the hospitals around here have a long way to go with giving parents a chance to have truly informed consent.

I was the same way as you, when I read that circ is painful and unnecessary, that sealed the deal for me. Then, the other benefits of intactness were just added icing on the cake.

[rabbitmum]

Originally Posted by BlessedMommy2006

Hi there! I'm in Michigan too, and one of my friends recently commented that she didn't know that she had a choice NOT TO circ. I'm guessing that if she knew that she could have refused, then she probably would have.

I find it so very strange that so many people think that they *have to* let a doctor do something with their child. It is not the hospital's baby, after all. There seems to be a very different relationship between doctors and patients in the U.S. compared to here!

The U.S. have mandatory vaccinations (I think?) and many Americans seem to believe that the doctors have the right to decide that their sons' foreskins must be removed. We have "socialist medicine", which is seen as equal to dictatorship in some (many?) Americans' view - yet we have more freedom of choice, it seems.

[SlackerDad]

Originally Posted by rabbitmum

I find it so very strange that so many people think that they *have to* let a doctor do something with their child. It is not the hospital's baby, after all.

Great point--although as I mentioned in another post about the hospital where my son was born, the nursery nurses sure acted like the babies were theirs (they were very bent out of shape by our insisting on rooming in).

BTW, it is a noisy minority who are stirring up all this fuss about "socialised medicine" here in the U.S.

[NettleTea]

Originally Posted by rabbitmum

The U.S. have mandatory vaccinations (I think?).

That is actually not true

[AnalogWife]

My hospital kept asking, asking, asking "Do you plan to breastfeed? Are you going to circumcize?" and the answers were ALWAYS "Yes. No." yet it never stopped them from shoving a bottle in my DS's face before I even knew it (I was wacked out and shaking on the c-sect table, I didn't know until I saw the photos DH was taking and he didn't know any better) or my OB showing up to prepare us for the circumcision and appeared really taken aback when I told him WE WEREN'T GETTING ONE.

Even though they appeared to be giving us choices, they didn't listen to anything I said.

[Crunchy Frog]

Originally Posted by Conifer

Hi,

Just wanted to say that until I started reading Mothering, I just thought getting circumcised was just what you did with baby boys. Just realizing it was a choice made the decision a no-brainer! It's such a common thing here. Thank goodness DH was supportive when I brought is up. He was like..."gee, I never really thought about it. Ok, if it's not necessary, let's not do it"

I think just getting the word out that it isn't necessary and you have a choice is all that a lot of people need to hear. Maybe occasionally post on more mainstream boards? I tried to find out more info on other sites like babycenter.com and they have nothing on the issue. I am so happy we decided not to circ.

I just checked out babycenter.com and they have tons and tons of stuff on circ. I'm actually looking at a forum there just for pro-circs and almost all of the posts are about various complications people have had . There also seems to be a large forum for non-circers.