washing question

[jenP]

okay, so we all know you only wash the outside of a baby's normal penis and never retract. only the penis owner should ever retract the prepuce. But, the advice I've seen for those who are retractile is to retract and rinse under. i'm just curious about if/why even this is really neccessary. I've seen the analogy to a vagina, as in the pediatrician does not need to examine under the prepuce any more than he needs to examine inside a girl's vagina, or that parents do not need to clean under the prepuce of a baby boy any more than they need to douche for their baby girl. why is it different for adults? A grown woman still should not douche. why does a man need to wash under the prepuce? Is it not self-cleaning like the vagina?
I'm just very curious. I have no experience with a natural adult penis so I really don't know what happens if you don't wash under the prepuce. (with my own intact genitals I wash the outside but not the inside.)
Thanks!

Jen

[Quirky]

I think the advice is to rinse because when the foreskin is retractable you will get urine, etc. under there and although urine is sterile when it first comes out of the bladder it can get skanky after that.

Perhaps a better analogy at this point is to the labia? Any woman is definitely going to get skanky if she doesn't wash the labia/vulva with water (and soap if necessary/desired, I use soap, others don't). Even wiping with TP is not going to get rid of all the urine/secretions etc. that make their way to the outside. No man of my acquaintance has ever used TP after just a pee.

Just a guess, though!

[Frankly Speaking]

Quirky is right. Washing in the preputial space and vulva is mostly for esoteric reasons. If you don't rinse those areas, smegma will collect and there can be some odor. That is not a problem for adolescent boys and girls because they are not sexually active and odor is not usually a problem because the boys are not producing significant amounts of testosterone or gonadotrophins. The washing is mostly for the sexual partner and washing before that is mostly just for training for future adult life.

Just to add . . . any odor in the genital area should be reassuring. Live bacteria usually have no odor. Dead bacteria do. A dog walking down the side of the road has little odor. A dead dog in the road has a definite odor.



Frank

[wendy1221]

My boys have had problems w/ a burning sensation and redness if they don't rinse their penises often enough. And there is a definite strong urine smell when this happens. Urine doesn't come out of the vagina, so girls don't have this problem. The real solution to this would be to teach the boys to retract a little before peeing, but my oldest seems to never remember and my 2 year old isn't even potty trained yet.

[LeosMama]

Urine doesn't come out of the vagina, so girls don't have this problem.

urine comes out of the foreskin the same way it comes out of the vulva. that is, the urethra is hidden inside the foreskin/vulva and urine gets inside the foreskin/vulva.

if they don't rinse their penises often enough.

How do you deal with this in your 2 yo? I assume you're referring to rinsing the glans?

[jenP]

Originally Posted by LeosMama

urine comes out of the foreskin the same way it comes out of the vulva. that is, the urethra is hidden inside the foreskin/vulva and urine gets inside the foreskin/vulva.

Right, so the glans/inside the prepuce seems to be more analogous to the vulva than to the vagina. Like the vulva, it will get stinky and possibly irritated from urine if not rinsed periodically. the vagina, otoh, doesn't get urine in it and never needs to be washed inside. So that answers my question! thanks.

Jen

[A&A]

Originally Posted by jenP

A grown woman still should not douche. why does a man need to wash under the prepuce?

Douching is not the same as washing. Washing involves plain water (which I use); douching involves nasty chemicals!!

[jenP]

Originally Posted by A&A

Douching is not the same as washing. Washing involves plain water (which I use); douching involves nasty chemicals!!

Really? You mean you actually squirt water up into the vagina (as opposed to just swabbing around the outside)? 'Cause my midwives said not even to do that, it messes up the pH. otoh if the pH is already out of whack like it got to be during pg they told me to pour a weak vinegar solution over the vulva and then swab just a bit of it into the vagina using my finger, but never to squirt or pour anything into the vagina.
sorry if that's tmi but i like we can talk about stuff clinically here and become more informed.

jen

[busymomof5]

I have found that sitting my little boys in the bathtub is really cleaning enough.....Also, when they were littler they used to shower with dad at least once a week and he would show them some of his tips/tricks for washing the outside with a washcloth, etc....

I think I'd probably avoid squirting anything into a....body orifice...unless I cleared it with my midwife/dr etc....the vagina does a good job of lubricating/cleaning itself and if you do have an odor at all, you might want to make sure it's not a yeast infection, etc. Go and talk to your primary care provider before you do anything.

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by LeosMama

How do you deal with this in your 2 yo? I assume you're referring to rinsing the glans?

He retracts it in the bath himself. If he hadn't started doing this on his own (learned by watching his big brother), I never would have known he was retractile. No one has ever retracted him except himself. When one of them complains it's burning or whatever, I take them to the bathroom and either stand them up in the tub or have them hold it over the toilet and retract while I pour a glass of warm water over to rinse. That's it. That's the extent of penis cleaning at our house.

[Oz Daddy]

I remember the first time my dad told me that I had to wash underneath my foreskin. It is as vivid today as the time it was 28 years ago! I was 5 years old and while getiting me ready for a bath, he asked me if I could "pull my skin back." He also mentioned to be careful when trying, but to his surprise I had no problem doing so.. come to think of it, I have no recollection when I could first start doing it, but my mother said i "always had my hands on it."

My father then said that everytime I had a bath or shower I should clean underneath. I have no idea why, I am just guessing his father must have taught him the same thing. I am also guessing since he had a penis it was his job to teach me and not my mothers, after all, he knew from experience right?

Well since that time and every day since, I have always cleaned underneath my foreskin, however the best advice I can give to everyone is not to use normal soap on the glans, even though I used it from the ages of 5 to 20.
Soap free shower gel is far better to use and make sure you get a pH neutral gel as well. Ever since I changed to a mild body gel which is soap free, I have found it far more pleasant. For my 8 month old daughter, we use Johnson's bath gel for infants so I am sure that product is gentle enough for young boys too.

Another thing to remember is that it also depends on the age of your son. I have no idea if bubble bath is good enough. I think the best time to recommend to your son to thoroughly clean underneath his foreskin is from the moment he complains of the burning sensation. I remember this sensation at a young age and I think that is why my father made the effort to teach me about cleaning underneath.

One important thing to remember mums (sorry about the Oz spelling ) and dads, is that when your son is about to hit puberty, this IS the most important time. I can recall from my "own habits " that washing down there was very necessary.