Why do people circumcise preemies?

[Super Pickle]

I absolutely cannot wrap my head around this one. Can anybody explain why a prematurely-born infant, who has been struggling for his life and is finally stable enough to get the minimum amount of milk or formula down in order to be sent home, would be circumcised before discharge?

I happened to drop in on a preemies board (for an unrelated reason) and saw that these mothers are so excited that their sons are finally strong enough to be circumcised and sent home. It made me feel awful, like there is still soooo much work to be done. I am really feeling down. I didn't say anything b/c I didn't go there to pick a fight about circ, and goodness knows they have enough on their plates right now. But really, WHY? WHY? WHY?

Are we really making any difference? Are people ever going to stop this perversion?

[rik8144]

I work in the NICU and I hate to see the babies we have worked our butts off for have to go into more pain before they go home. I HATE looking at the prelim consent page and seeing that they do want to circ even though they had a 24-25-whatever week baby.

[fruitful womb]

This is so so sad. : I thought they didn't do this to preemies. I have a college friend who's doctor said he will not circ a preemie. So he is 11 now and uncut. His younger brother was born term and since he was, the parents had the doctor circumcise him. This mother told me she asked her 11 yr old if he wanted to be circumcised like his little brother and he said, "No Way!"

Wouldn't preemies be at greater risk of death if they were circumcised?

[KMK_Mama]

They wouldn't circumcise my DH before he left the hospital. He was born at 26 weeks. He was circumcised when he was 3.

My nephew though was a preemie and he is circumcised, although I don't know when they had it done.

[Steady101]

That is so sad. It all is.

[earthmama369]

A woman came into the store where I work to buy a sling the other week, and told me she had preemie twins and the boy was almost ready to come home. I was so excited for her. Then she said he had been set to come home but he ended up having to stay 4 days longer was because he had just been circ'd and he crashed and needed to be stabilized. So not only did he lose a vital and functioning part of his body for no good reason, but he had to be separated from his parents for more than half a week more. : : WHY?!

[gridley13]

I knew someone who was very angry at the way I talked about circ. She had a preemie. She once said, "XX was circumcised the day he left the hospital and without anesthesia and he was just fine."



I don't get it either.

[Kerrie]

My neighbor didn't have a premie but her DS did have quite a few problems at birth and needed to be in the 'special nursery' and I remember her being so happy that he was 'healthy enought to be circ'd'. I just couldn't believe that after all that he/they went through, it was a happy and exciting thing. Whenever I see him naked (which is often as he loves to strip) I cringe inside.

[Super Pickle]

THese stores are just chilling!

[Fi.]

It's unfortunately like a milestone to some :\

[phdmama06]

Very sad. I knew a mommy who had a baby boy at 30 weeks last year. He was in the hospital for approximately two months. A few days before his release, mommy was soooo excited that her little boy was finally going to get circ'ed. I couldn't believe it. As if the poor kid hadn't suffered enough pain. :

[MelKnee]

When I was in the NICU with my 1st ds, there was a very tiny, very sick baby in the next warmer. One day, I overheard his father ask a nurse when the baby could be circed. She stood there flabbergasted and finally ended up saying, "Maybe when he isn't fighting for his life".:

[mamasophy]

Originally Posted by earthmama369

A woman came into the store where I work to buy a sling the other week, and told me she had preemie twins and the boy was almost ready to come home. I was so excited for her. Then she said he had been set to come home but he ended up having to stay 4 days longer was because he had just been circ'd and he crashed and needed to be stabilized. So not only did he lose a vital and functioning part of his body for no good reason, but he had to be separated from his parents for more than half a week more. : : WHY?!

Oh yeah, the circ had nothing to do with his crashing...

[mothragirl]

most people don't look at it as surgery, they think of it as a routine "procedure".

[MilkTrance]

Yes, for some it is a rite of passage, similar to the female genital mutiliation we see in some other (i.e., non-Western) cultures.

[Rylins mama]

I guess I just dont see how other people could do it when I could never bring myself to do it.

[lml41981]

It isn't anything that I would choose to do if I had a son, but I can imagine that I would be excited when my child was finally healthy enough to be eligible for circ because it would likely mean that he'd be healthy enough to come home sooner.

[CaraNicole]

If you have nothing nice to say....






Or what you would say is a UA violation....

[eepster]

If circ is just what seem normal to you than being healthy enough to get circ'd means being healthy enough to do what all the other normal boys did.

We need to show people that circ is not normal. Then it will stop being a momment of normalicy.

Common is not the same as normal.

[cherri0196]

I don't understand this either, it makes me sick and just so mad. I don't understand it one bit and i never will.