retraction causing odor?

[mesa]

This is one of the arguments I hear about a lot. I have never noticed an odor to my 3 year old's penis, and I just chalked it up to urban myth and fear mongering......until I got a new job working in a daycare last year. There was one little boy in my class (12 months-23 months) who was in foster care. Now, every single time I changed this poor little boy's diaper, he had the most foul odor coming out of his genital region, like a mixture of rotting dairy and old hamburger meat.

He wasn't circ'd. But he had been retracted, and the tip of his penis was red and inflamed looking. All I could figure was that the odor was a RESULT of forcible retraction, and substandard hygiene as a result ( once you retract, it's a lot more complicated to care for, although I could never bring myself to retract him and wipe it.....it was so wrong). I was so horrified that I mentioned the odor to the director (and also mentioned that he appeared to still have umbilical debris and oozing in his navel, and his clothes were always dirty) but she ordered me to keep my mouth shut about it. I felt like we had a responsibility to these kids, and especially to the foster kids who have suffered so much already.

The state, though, apparently doesn't think that forcible retraction and dirty navels (and clothes) were grounds for an investigation. I quit not too long after that.

[Islay]

I'm not surprised you quit! Poor little mite... he was clearly negleted.

Christopher

[enstar780]

Forcibly retracting the foreskin is of course something that should never be done. The foreskin is supposed to be fused to the glans. It likely was this forcible retraction that caused these problems. Ir exposes what is essentially a raw wound and can lead the way to infections. It usually fine if left intact. It is so very frustrating that people are so misinformed and that the medical profession, which is supposed to be helping people, is a part of the problem. People seem to assume the doctors are god and know everything. They dont, and can often be quite arrogant an misinformed, and it is often surprising how unethical they can be, so much so to advocate cutting off the parts of the genitals of infants for spurious reasons.

[kldliam]

what a sad story. :

[Marsupialmom]

It could have also be residue smell from lactose intolorance and overall diet. I knew a little boy that was circumcised and smelt that way until he was treated and feed according to a lactose intolorance diet.

[DocsNemesis]

That sooo scares me! I had CPS involved when my now 6 year old was 3.5 and kept escaping out of our house. Then they had a cow about our house being messy (duh, with 2 little kids, plus I was preggo, and in school full time-and my kids were NOT in daycare, which just made it worse). Anyway, I was and am so scared of CPS taking my kids away, but esp my son. I have heard of foster parents getting babies/kids circ'd while in their care.

[pdx.mothernurture]

Overzealous cleaning can cause irritation and may also disrupt the natural balance of flora/bacteria...leading to infection...and infections can cause odor. Since it seemed like he had been/was being retracted, he showed signs of redness/irritation, AND he had a foul odor to his genitals it makes me wonder if he might have had an infection of some sort going on...

Jen

[MommytoB]

I don't get it how cps can be able to investiage so little things but they don't investigate the worse off of things like for me I had 'cps visit me 3 x and they came because someone said it was not a 'clean place' I assume specifically it was my mom doing.

I see alot more 'worse' pig stys that come to even worse than those on the TLC 'clean house shows' which had aired on california news when I used to live there .

I remember how freaked out some people were over a guinea pig dirty cage if it wasn't cleaned right away they would go running to the 'bathroom' throw up say i can't work poor piggy got the blame & odd thing is when I was there they actually did the showing of some 'really bad neglecting guinea pig cages dirty bedding piled half way up to the cages with all guinea pigs gathered in there at least 20 females of them pregnant .

I try to tell people I seen what is 'dirty' as in dirty home , dirty kids and my place aint that close to it.

[trmpetplaya]

Originally Posted by DocsNemesis

I have heard of foster parents getting babies/kids circ'd while in their care.

HOW is that legal????? I mean... yes, it's legal for the parents to decide (which shouldn't be either) but for someone ELSE to decide to give another person's child cosmetic (or rather, disfiguring...) surgery that's even WORSE I had no idea that foster parents could do that... OMG. I am totally reeling from finding this out :

love and peace.

[Susuhound]

I would have had warning lights and sirens going off like crazy. Sounds like an abused child. Wow I can't believe a foster carer would send a child anywhere in that state, he should have been at a doctor getting attended to. Are there not some sort of checks on the care foster children are getting? Any inflamed area that smells like that is infected, there was more than retraction going on there

[Lara vanAEsir]

[DocsNemesis]

Oh yep, its true. Its technically legal, although you can file a lawsuit against the state for it, because it isnt something medically necessary. I know because my cousin was taken away from his mom and put in foster care before he placed with his grandparents. While he was in foster care they had him circ'd-he was 3.5! Nothing was wrong with his penis, but the foster parent freaked out that he was intact and had him circ'd immediately. They never sued though His grandparents really didnt care, they had their son circ'd after all, and his mom never got him back (she was a druggy, though as far as I know she is still clean now, she just never got him back). I'm not even going to go into the state of that child's teeth either-they were all black and decaying and his grandparents hadnt taken him to the dentist because they couldnt afford it. CPS ddnt have any issue with THAT!!!

[Lovenest]

My son has no odor either.
But, I watch a 18 month old girl that has a very weird odor everytime I change her, and this is wet or dry. Its a very bad odor as well, and I have to put her diaper outside or it smells the whole house up, and thats just urine or no urine.
Its very odd....

[paminmi]

My son is turning 17 at the end of the month and is in the throes of puberty. While he on occasion has some armpit odor, he has never had any other unpleasant odor that I could detect.

Come to think of it, neither has my 71 year old intact father...

Let's face it, it's fearmongering and fallacy at it's finest.

[Islay]

Originally Posted by paminmi

Let's face it, it's fearmongering and fallacy at it's finest.

Undoubtedly it is. ANY uncared-for child (male or female) will have odour problems - and worse.

As for foster children being peremptorily circumcised, this would be child abuse in England and treated as paedophilia, with all its consequences! Heck, I'm speechless!! :

Christopher

[DocsNemesis]

<<<Moving to Finland

[paminmi]

Originally Posted by DocsNemesis

<<<Moving to Finland

Can I come too??

[DocsNemesis]

Sure, I'm sure Kia will invite us over!! Dude, did you know they dont have peanut butter?!?!
PS I am really serious, I am planning on moving to Finland, dh is all for it-hopefully in another year!!!

[TigerTail]

Is it just me?

The title of this thread makes me depressed everytime I see it. With all the myths out there, people scanning the thread titles are going to have no idea what the OP is actually about; I've known intact men who had immaculate hygiene (you could eat off it! ) & I've known circ'd men with ballstank that could knock a fly off a wall at twenty paces. All it does is reinforce a stereotype. An untrue stereotype.

Would it be possible, Mesa, to change the thread title to 'infection in forcibly retracted child' or something? I am really unhappy when I see it & have been wanting to say something for a week.

[TigerTail]

bump?