[Vermillion]

So my DS was unfortunately circumcised as a baby

I've known for a while now that if I were to ever have another boy, he will definitely stay intact. No idea what this baby is yet, but I'm feeling boy vibes, so I'm already thinking about having a baby with an intact penis and what to expect with dr. visits.

I SO often see people talking about the dr. just "having a look" and they end up retracting! When my son was a baby, I remember his balls being checked for fluid or whatnot, but his penis was NEVER messed with at all!

So my question is, is it even necessary for a dr. to check/touch baby's intact penis at all if there are no obvious issues? I feel like with all the forcible retractions that take place, I'll be standing right there saying "DO NOT EVEN TOUCH, thank you very much!"

 

[nsmomtobe]

No doctor has never touched my son's penis.

 

[pigpokey]

In my experience with a 6yo, no there is no reason. Sometimes they want to visualize the meatus (not sure that's the right word -- pee-hole). Again if the child can pee, there's no reason for that. I think it is on their checkup checklist because CIRC'd boys get scarring of the meatus. But they forget this is caused by circumcision, or were never taught it so they want to see it.

My son has been completely and effortlessly retractable since age 2 with no problems whatsoever. I have to wonder if this was because no one ever caused any scar tissue to form there.

Keep hands away. Its only function in childhood is to pee. Can child pee? Penis good.

When the adult is ready for sexual relations then issues like retractability come into play and should be treated. Otherwise it's not something to worry about. Also I think if hands are kept off the immature penis, then they're unlikely to have any problems in that area.

 

[outlier]

I would strongly encourage you, at the start of your baby's very first pediatrician visit, to have a conversation about what to expect with your doctor. That will give you the opportunity to hear what your doctor's standard of care is--assuming he/she tells you everything--and let you state how you want the under-diaper checks to go. Make sure to offer the information that he pees just fine (if this is the case).

My experience: at the hospital, every doctor who looked at ds checked his testicles, but absolutely no one touched his penis, and this was a hospital that circs in a high-circ rate state. This gave me a false sense of confidence going into his one week checkup with the ped (surely if no one messes with a one-day-old, they won't mess with a one-week-old!). Well, the ped did try to push it back, though stopped after I yelled. The reason she gave was that she was checking to "see if the end of the foreskin was open". Argh! If I had been capable of snark at one week pp I should have said, "Do you SEE a skin-colored water balloon on the end of his penis? No? Then it's open!"