This is a new experience for me and I'm asking for specific details here ... Our 2 year old son is uncircumcised, and I thought you didn't need to do anything special cleaning-wise, as I vaguely remembered reading this somewhere. We went to a new pediatrician yesterday, a down-to-earth, holistic natropath who also teaches anthroposophical medical care. I felt extremely comfortable with him, and he really supported our alternative vaccination choices, and is anti-circumcision. So when he showed me how to roll back my son's foreskin, exposing the head (which I hadn't seen before) to clean it, I didn't think anything of it. He showed me that some skin is still attached to the head, and said that eventually it will separate on its own. And, he said I should clean it in this manner in the bath. But then today I read the following post on an email list I'm on:
"I took my 7 month old son to our (homeopathic) pediatrician today for a check up and after she checked his testicles she pulled the foreskin back (not all the way back, about half way back) and I freaked out. I haven't pulled it back and from what I've read it shouldn't be pulled back like that unless it does it on its own. She said to pull it back slightly in the bath and rinse with water (no soap) to avoid infection 'since there is skin covering it.' But I feel really really uncomfortable doing that."
The responses were overwhelmingly opposed to the pediatrician's actions -- she should switch doctors, this is terrible, the pediatrician had no right to do this, we need to protecting our intact sons from early retraction, etc.
Wha-a-a-t? I'm so confused. What is early retraction? What's wrong with what our pediatricians did? Someone advised reading the "sticky" on Mothering.com on how to care for intact sons, but I can't find it. Could someone point me to the link, or explain what's going on here? I've been reading about this online and I'm still confused about the details.
I mean, I'm understanding what I understood before: "only clean what is seen." And I'm reading terrible stories about painful "retraction" (though I'm still confused about what that term actually means). But, is what my pediatrician did "retraction"? My son really enjoyed the experience and kept asking for more, more, more! In the bath tonight he pulled at his penis and said, more! I rolled the foreskin back a little and splashed some water in there.
I just read, "The mean age for natural foreskin retraction without pain or trauma is 10.4 years. Some men never see their glans until they are in the 20s." And from the AAP bulletin, "Care of the Uncircumcised Penis," “...foreskin retraction should NEVER be forced. Until separation occurs, do NOT try to pull the foreskin back - especially an infant's. Forcing the foreskin to retract before it is ready may severely harm the penis and cause pain, bleeding and tears in the skin. "
My son's glans (head) was easily seen, and it didn't cause him any pain to roll the foreskin back. Is there something else I'm completely missing here? The pediatrician did not attempt to forcibly separate the skin from the head, and he showed me where it is still attached and said it will separate on its own eventually. I guess I'm understanding that in some children, what my pediatrician did would actually cause that skin to separate and could really damage the penis. But is rolling the foreskin back a little and exposing the head "retraction" and a big problem?
Thanks for helping me with these details. I think I understand everything except the detail of what retraction really, actually is, if that's what our pediatrician did, and why, then, it felt good to my son. I am definitely going to send our pediatrician some links on the care of the uncircumcised penis, as it is clear that you don't need to do anything to keep it clean.
"I took my 7 month old son to our (homeopathic) pediatrician today for a check up and after she checked his testicles she pulled the foreskin back (not all the way back, about half way back) and I freaked out. I haven't pulled it back and from what I've read it shouldn't be pulled back like that unless it does it on its own. She said to pull it back slightly in the bath and rinse with water (no soap) to avoid infection 'since there is skin covering it.' But I feel really really uncomfortable doing that."
The responses were overwhelmingly opposed to the pediatrician's actions -- she should switch doctors, this is terrible, the pediatrician had no right to do this, we need to protecting our intact sons from early retraction, etc.
Wha-a-a-t? I'm so confused. What is early retraction? What's wrong with what our pediatricians did? Someone advised reading the "sticky" on Mothering.com on how to care for intact sons, but I can't find it. Could someone point me to the link, or explain what's going on here? I've been reading about this online and I'm still confused about the details.
I mean, I'm understanding what I understood before: "only clean what is seen." And I'm reading terrible stories about painful "retraction" (though I'm still confused about what that term actually means). But, is what my pediatrician did "retraction"? My son really enjoyed the experience and kept asking for more, more, more! In the bath tonight he pulled at his penis and said, more! I rolled the foreskin back a little and splashed some water in there.
I just read, "The mean age for natural foreskin retraction without pain or trauma is 10.4 years. Some men never see their glans until they are in the 20s." And from the AAP bulletin, "Care of the Uncircumcised Penis," “...foreskin retraction should NEVER be forced. Until separation occurs, do NOT try to pull the foreskin back - especially an infant's. Forcing the foreskin to retract before it is ready may severely harm the penis and cause pain, bleeding and tears in the skin. "
My son's glans (head) was easily seen, and it didn't cause him any pain to roll the foreskin back. Is there something else I'm completely missing here? The pediatrician did not attempt to forcibly separate the skin from the head, and he showed me where it is still attached and said it will separate on its own eventually. I guess I'm understanding that in some children, what my pediatrician did would actually cause that skin to separate and could really damage the penis. But is rolling the foreskin back a little and exposing the head "retraction" and a big problem?
Thanks for helping me with these details. I think I understand everything except the detail of what retraction really, actually is, if that's what our pediatrician did, and why, then, it felt good to my son. I am definitely going to send our pediatrician some links on the care of the uncircumcised penis, as it is clear that you don't need to do anything to keep it clean.
