"Pointing it down" to go pee....

[bandgeek]

Does your intact toddler have to use his hand to point his penis down to get his pee in the potty? I know, I know, all boys are different and there are always going to be exceptions, but I'm curious because this has never been an issue. He just points down naturally and the foreskin makes it long enough so everything goes where it's supposed to (and it's not exceptionally long, either). I imagine if he didn't have a foreskin, it would be about half the length and it would probably not go in the potty.

This is the number one question I'm getting asked now that DS is using the potty and it seems so odd to me. I just say that everything goes where it's supposed to and it's not an issue. But I'm wondering if the foreskin helps. I only know one person IRL that didn't circ and haven't thought to ask her. Wouldn't that be an interesting conversation? "Hey, just called to see what your kid's foreskin does."

[bluetoes]

My little guy isn't old enough for that yet and I have to admit my husband and I have this boundary of not watching each other in the toilet, so I couldn't tell you what he does!

All I can say I that on another board a circ'ed guy joked it was possible for him to drink a glass of scotch with one hand, smoke a cigarette with another all while peeing in the toilet. I guess an 'advantage' of being circ'ed.:

And slightly related, pet theory, perhaps other mothers of intact wee men can help: My theory is that intact babies are less likely to pee when their penis is exposed to air. I have never been peed on when I change my guys diapers. On occasion he's peed on the table but it isn't like a fountain that goes in the eye. I don't need one of those 'tee-pees' when I change his diaper. Is this the case with anyone else or am I just lucky?!

[Claire and Boys]

wow, I had never thought of that. Seamus has only peed like that maybe a couple of times (the first time was on his own face...EWW!)
Other mums on boards I visit complain their kiddos are always peeing on them.

[Monkeygrrl]

i have never needed a 'tee-pee' when changing my boys diapers...and i have taught Pman to sit when he pees, and it hasnt been an issue...all of the boys in this family do (dad, older brother, Pman) and we will be teaching Trout to do the same...standing to pee is something that can be practiced when they are prepared to clean the bathroom...

i have no idea if having a foreskin helps this or not...dad and older brother are circ'ed (older brother is not my birthboy), Pman and Trout are intact...

peace...

[eepster]

All the circ'd potty learning toddlers I've known need to hold it pointing down, so it isn't an intact trait.

And slightly related, pet theory, perhaps other mothers of intact wee men can help: My theory is that intact babies are less likely to pee when their penis is exposed to air. I have never been peed on when I change my guys diapers. On occasion he's peed on the table but it isn't like a fountain that goes in the eye. I don't need one of those 'tee-pees' when I change his diaper. Is this the case with anyone else or am I just lucky?!

You're just lucky. DS does quite a fountain immitation, sent it clear across the room once.

[2tadpoles]

To be honest, I don't remember a lot about such things (my boys are older), but I do know that I was peed on occasionally during a diaper change. Not every time, though.

[DahliaRW]

My dh started telling ds to "point the cannon down" when he sits to pee and he does. It's a nicer term to use in public, LOL! But if he doesn't, it just depends on how the foreskin is bending at that moment as to where the pee goes. Ds sometimes will sit backwards on the potty to pee, and in that case it always makes it in so he doesn't have to hold anything down.

Ironically, I've never been peed on during a diaper change either, but ds has peed with his diaper off. It just always shot up and hit him in the face!

[Lula's Mom]

The peeing-during-diaper-changes thing comes up periodically; it turns out that some boys do it all the time, some never do, regardless of whether they are intact or not. I remember asking my friend (whose son is circumcised)why she didn't warn me about the peeing, after my son peed on my shirt several days in a row. She said it never happened to her.

As for pointing it down- my son sort of juts his pelvis forward so it will point down into the toilet. He doesn't use his hand, but he does have to do something to aim it down.

[bdavis337]

My boys are both circed, and they both pee all over the place if I don't remind them to point the gun down, as my husband says. The toddler especially, for some reason. The intact little boy I babysit has peed a few times sans diaper, and he's always pointed down when it happens.

[LavenderMae]

My little guy that uses the toilet (other little guy is in diapers) doesn't even hold his penis when he pees and the pee goes down into the toliet.

My ds1 never shot pee as an infant but my ds2 did a few times when he was a newborn , he hasn't in a while though (both are intact).

[addictedtocloth!]

yes my son points it down or it goes all over.

[MommaLauraRN]

My son has been out of diapers for more than a year...he peed sitting down for a few months, then last summer DH taught Noah to pee standing up...he never points it down whether sitting or standing, it just does and the pee goes where it's supposed to. My new baby has peed on me several times when I'm not quick enough getting his new diaper on!

[Lauren82]

My intact 5 year old gets it all over. The only reason I know this is because I always manage to sit on it afterwards (he still hasn't gotten the hang of LIFTING the toilet seat).

[titania8]

my boys don't need to point it down either. i used to work in a daycare, in the '2 yo' room, so we did a lot of pottying. most of the boys were circ'd and we had to teach them to push it down. there were a couple of intact boys and at least one circd boy who didn't need to.

interesting thought about not peeing when diapers are off. mine have only done it once or twice ever during a change (can't actually recall an incident, but it must have happened), and only rarely when they are running around diaperless.

[bandgeek]

Sorry, I should have clarified, I was talking about sitting to pee. My DS gets it everywhere when he stands up! Thank goodness he prefers to sit at this point.

[aira]

My DS stands and he pees hands-free. He also never squirted me.

[kalisis]

I have to remind DS - but it's mostly a positional thing, I think. Like, if he's kind of hot, then his foreskin will get stuck and point a funny way, so the pee goes that way.

Ironically, he never misses when he stands up. It's weird - I almost prefer that my nearly 3 yo stand to pee.

[hipumpkins]

My son's pee goes any which way depending..on what I have no idea. Sometimes i sit him on the potty (we are ECers) and his penis just seems to dangle down and other times it is straight out so I say, "get em in there" and he pushes it in (although I am now going to switch to point the cannon down b/c I think it's funny)
A funny thing, though when DS pushes his penis down he gestures (where'd it go ) with upturned hands and I have to say.."Uh oh where's michael's penis?" And he cracks up!

[gridley13]

Mine usually has to point it down a little when he first starts to pee, only because it is a strong stream. Then he can let go and it naturally points down. Now, my circ'd nephew and my son are very close in age and potty learned at the same time. My nephew... if you are kneeling in front of him helping him pee on the potty as he is sitting... you better point that thing down or you get it RIGHT in the face. Not so with my son.

In fact, I have noticed another ironic differences between the two:

my son: haven't seen a speck of smegma yet in 3 years.
my nephew: during diaper changes, noticed smegma under the loose remaining foreskin.

I also never got peed on when my son was an infant.

This whole peeing issue is trivial compared to other reasons not to circ, but I DO enjoy telling people when potty training comes up that his foreskin helps to just put his pee in the toilet and not all over the bathroom.

[phatchristy]

I've talked about this with other mothers, including some who had both circ'd then intact boys. It seems that when they are circ'd, quite often all the skin that is left bunches up behind the glans and sort of lifts the penis up at a high angle. I've seen this on several boys. Literally these circ'd boys look like they have little more than a stump of a penis left and the glans looks like a belly button and it sticks straight out and up. The moms of these circ'd boys all complained about their kiddos squirting them in the face and upward everywhere during changes and as babies.

In the kiddos I've seen who are intact, their penis doesn't have that insane bunching of skin, and it looks about twice as long on average. It looks "relaxed" and naturally points down. These moms don't generally get sprayed in the face, but rather if baby goes during a change it is down or off to the side on their leg or something.

Since my own son is intact, the few times he's let it go during changes he's basically let it go on his legs. It always points down unless he grabs it.

It seems to me that overall, with the moms I have talked to that I've noticed these trends. Additionally, I've also noticed another trend. It seems that *overall* circ'd boys seem to have a higher frequency of urinating as infants when they are getting changed. I seriously wonder if the glans being "exposed" to air seems to signal them physiologically to urinate somehow. I think how funny it would feel to have my mucosal tissue....(like a continuously open mouth, or continually open female gentalia) open continuously to the air....how bizarre and "off" that would feel.

A few older men who were restoring, also expressed to me that they always felt uncomfortable, and sort of "off" when their glans was uncovered, but they didn't realize it. They thought it was "normal". They were just always trying to adjust, etc. It wasn't until they got enough skin and kept the glans covered that things got "calm" down there, and it felt *right*.

Which, as I learn more, makes so much sense to me.

Anyhow, not that this in itself is an argument people would use not to circ, but it just in another added dimension of thought.