Mama of 2 girls looking for info for my friends first, a boy.

[chattyprincess]

Hi there ladies, (and gentlemen!) I have 2 dd's and a good friend is pregnant with her first, a boy. I have never really thought about circumcision or had to do my research on it since I have had two girls. On top of that I always thought the idea of cutting off parts of a baby was a bit barbaric, I mean would I have let them cut off parts of my daughters to maybe possibly prevent something they can't even prove? any how, to say the least the whole thing is a bizarre thought to me and intrestingly enough all the little boys I actually know (minus 1) are uncircumcised....

Sorry for the rambling, so I asked my friend the other day if they were going to have him circumcised or not and she said yes why wouldn't they. I mentioned that the number of uncircumcised children these days is huge and that it really isn't medically necessary and can be really dangerous (the 1 boy I know who is circumsiced had all sorts or crazy bleeding problems etc...).

The convo was really casual and I said that I had some links to send her, I sent her the standford videos, the drmomma info and then an article from the washington post about how they have discovered that the male body actually producing something that repels hiv but it only does it in intact boys in the glans of the foreskin.

So I guess I am coming to you ladies to ask of any thing else I should send her or talk to her about. I think all medical decisions should be an informed decsion and think that they need to take this very seriously...
 I know this is a super heated topic so forgive any miswording here, nothing I am saying is to intice anger or upset anyone. I am really just looking for information to help my friend and her dh make an informed an empowered decision.

[tammylsmith]

You might encourage her to learn more about the procedure itself. Just seeing the restraints they use gives me weak knees! There are numerous you tube videos if you go up to the stickies section. When you start to break it down objectively, there actually aren't any good, medically sound reasons to do it!

[jd0805]

I haven't typically given this article to expecting friends, although I have shared it in general fashion in the past. But just this past weekend a friend-of-a-friend who is a lactation consultant had a client whose baby died from blood loss after circumcision surgery. The ER told her that bleeding after circumcision was normal (which it is) but a baby can die from just a little over 2 ounces of blood loss. This is almost nothing and it doesn't look like much at all in a disposable diaper. I am not sure if the parents in this case are going to talk about it publicly, or even get an attorney, but it happens all the time, gets covered up by the hospital, and doesn't need to. Why risk such things for an unnecessary and damaging surgery on your perfect little newborn baby? In any event, it is something all parents should be informed on ahead of time and I'm sure this dear mom may wish she had someone tell her ahead of time. http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html

If you haven't given her an info pack - they are great. I've given one to all expecting moms I know. You can request one here: http://www.savingpenises.org/our-information-packs.html

And I think just hearing from other mothers who have already been through this - who have walked the road of circumcision, and then chose to keep future sons intact, is eye opening. There must be reasons they choose to do differently with different sons. http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/i-circumcised-my-son-healing-from.html