Pain relief during circumcision

[minkajane]

Here's a really good article explaining different methods of pain relief during circumcision, how to do them, and how effective they are. There are even videos. It's very informative.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/453637

The reason I'm posting this is that all of us will someday know someone who will decide to have their child circumcised. So even if we can't convince them not to leave their child intact, we can help them be informed about effective pain management measures.

You may have to join the site to see the article, but it's free.

[Quirky]

I've seen that article before. On the one hand, I do agree that babies who are going to go under the knife no matter what deserve the most humane treatment possible. On the other hand.....it is so disgusting to read this article and think - what if it was a baby girl? Would any medical professional in the country do anything other than recoil in horror? What the hell is WRONG with these people that it's OK to do this to baby boys?

It's just so creepy, it reminds me of a death camp experiment.

[jessjgh1]

I bet most pro-circers would dismiss the article because of the tone it set on the first page:

Despite the 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement indicating that routine neonatal circumcision is not medically necessary

One only needs to witness the procedure to recognize the reality of circumcision pain

There is no longer any doubt that newborn infants are fully capable of nociception and that circumcision is extremely painful

One of the things I did when I was pregnant was read the description in "what to expect baby's 1st year" and THAT was enough to make me think. Dr Sears website description and some of the medical sites were enough to make me question the whole procedure.

None of these are very strongly pro-intact- at best they are barely neutral on the subject. What to expect is very 'mainstream' although it does at least mention natural/AP alternatives.

Then to find out that drs are not required to use pain relief and that many don't- well that just fueled the fire and made me super suspiscious. But then it had already started to sink in that circing was unnecessary.

I jsut read the first page of that article- clearly came across as anti-circ to me, but if you must you'd better use pain relief-- I just couldn't handle reading the rest of it right now. I do think I saw it when I was deciding and it helped me and supported me--- especially since we (dh and I) were debating religious circ. If we could have come to terms with circ, dh knew I would expect pain relief and that is difficult to find with religious circs.

I'm long-winded, but I guess that this article may help someone on the fence or who is researching and open minded.

On a related note: On another circumcision board the CL is posting 'informative' articles on the different circumcision methods. Oh, btw, this is a 'support' board so no dissenting opinion, critiques, or corrections are allowed. (No- really, I am not kidding).

However, I don't understand how anyone can actually READ them and then consent. Maybe he will end up turning some people away- I really hope so.

So again, I think the tides are turning and more and more people are at least starting to look into circ, so stuff like this help our case in MANY situations.

Jessica (sorry I'm obviously sleep deprived, ds is teething, sigh)

[KatScarlett]

Originally Posted by minkajane

The reason I'm posting this is that all of us will someday know someone who will decide to have their child circumcised. So even if we can't convince them not to leave their child intact, we can help them be informed about effective pain management measures.

Perhaps if someone comes across a family that absolutely insists on circ they could not only try to convince them to use effective pain control but ALSO convince them to get a routine CBC done on their son to insure that he is in good health with no underlying problems before putting him under the knife. It just makes me sick that the ONLY surgery a hospital will do with absolutely NO medical history on the patient is one on newborns, circ. That needs to change.

I have talked to family and friends that have chosen to circ and I have discussed pain management AND routine blood tests with them all.

~ Patti
mom of 5