No one will flame you! :)
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You can find excellent resources here at the "case against circumcision" forum - but my5 mo old DS is intact - no special cleaning required at all. In fact, he's been easier to care for than any of my friends whose boys are circ'ed. (All of whom have had issues with having to push back skin and clean, make sure it doesn't re-attach, etc.)
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Like PP said, I wipe it down like his fingers and toes. It's never a problem. I found myself very emotional about keeping him intact ... perhaps something for another thread but I'm really happy he's whole.
Thanks for the tips. I have mixed feelings about not circumsizing. I have never really seen a boy/adult man (only very eldery men) without it done. I don't want my baby to be the only one that isn't in a group that is, or be the only one that is in a group that isn't. I realize that most people feel that it is cosmetic, but I do feel it definitely has some hygenic reasons too, and I can't shake the feeling that being done is cleaner. That's the way I was brought up.Â
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I am hoping to learn more about it and hopefully feel better about it.
Just wanted to address a couple more things. First off, it isn't 'cleaner'. It's actually LESS sanitary when the foreskin is removed. Think of it this way: the foreskin is a protective layer. It's job is to keep the head of the penis (the most sensitive part) protected from fabric, cold, wind, AND bacteria. The foreskin is a SELF cleaning mucous membrane, just like the vagina. It would be silly of us to think that an exposed cervix is 'cleaner' because we know that the vagina does a very important job of protecting it and keeping it clean. 'Clean' doesn't equal 'soap' when you're talking about a mucous membrane because the bacteria there is there to kill the foreign bacteria that slips by. Soap just washes away that good bacteria, thus making the exposed parts more susceptible to infection.
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Secondly, to address the worry of him being different, I'll just echo what others have said about the ratio being around 50/50 and it's becoming more and more common to keep your boys intact. So by the time your son reaches high school the ratio could be 80/20. But more importantly, the fact is that boys don't stand around comparing their penises. They just don't. I think it's much more important to teach our children how to deal with cruel and ignorant teasing, then it is to push for all of them to 'look the same'. Isn't that just reinforcing the problem? And one day, if your son comes home and expresses interest in why he looks 'different' from his peers, ask yourself this: would you rather explain to him why you left his body the way it was at birth, or explain to him why you chose to mutilate a very private part of his body to make him look like everyone else? At which point he'll probably point out to you that he doesn't look like everyone else. Either way.
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DP is intact and although he had one or two brief encounters of teasing growing up, if you asked him now he'd tell you how great full he is to have his foreskin. Your son will thank you for keeping his penis intact, sparing him pain and allowing him full normal sexual function later on in life.
it is very simple. Wipe like a finger from base to tip. If it is a particularly messy blow out then a quick rinse in the tub will get it.
