[shay]

Don't just assume those taking care of your boy know to NOT touch that forskin. This is me. A few hours a week is all the time he spends at the childcare home. After a dirty diaper, she pulled back on the skin til it was bleeding. It is now 5 days later and he still seems to be in pain often before or during urination. I have consulted with the dr., it was red and swollen and VERY painful for him. He was screaming and backing away when the urge to pee was there. I felt so bad. I will schedule a dr. appoint. next week to get their opinion (they support non circ.).

Does anyone else have a similair circumstance? The doctor said to apply breast milk (I still nurse at 20 months) and vaseline or even antibiotic and "hopefully he won't have to circumcized later." I am having nighmares........

PLEASE, inform all to just leave that foreskin alone. He was so perfect, but I may have really screwed up by just assuming.

 

[Sarah]

Oh Shay- sorry to hear that! Listen... forceful retraction IS harmful, and the person who did that should be sternly reprimanded if not fired/ sued... but the odds of permanent harm are still in your son's favor, and even if there was some problem stemming from the retraction- it could be resolved without a circumcision. If he winds up with adhesions or something- there is no need to circumcise to deal with it.

Breastmilk is a great idea. I don't think "hopefully" was a fair word to use in regards to not eventually needing a circumcsion... I think the Dr. was expressing disgust and dismay and anger about the way your son was hurt by this person... and hopefully was the forceful word to convey the idea that this person did something really wrong- but I don't think that there is ANY real likelyhood that your son will wind up *needing* a circumcision because of this incident. Even if he does wind up with a problem, I don't think circumcision would ever be the answer.

Give the caregiver (and any future caregiver) one of these to read and SIGN... this goes for Doctors too.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/V...9793/care.html

NOCIRC has some good info on forceful retration. #6
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/

Love Sarah

 

[shay]

Hi Sarah,

I know the dr. was upset and anger was in his voice on the phone about ignorance in this issue. Again though, I should have told her in the beginning to leave it alone and didn't, I just didn't think of it. She I am sure didn't intentionally mean to hurt him, just didn't know any better.

My concern at this point is to tell others to PLEASE tell caregivers to leave the forskin alone.

I need experiences with this also. After 5 days, (he is 20 months old) he still complains often when peeing. It doesn't look irritated anymore but I worry about how it healed to be still causing him what seems to be pain or irritation.

 

[TigerTail]

poor little guy. i hope he feels better soon!

i'd mention it to sam's preschool, but apparently he insists on going in the potty *alone*- i think maybe he's been reading some of these horror stories! (and has been washing his own parts in the bath for about a year.) private 2 yr old! (now if he'd show the same respect for the baby's- 'honk honk!')

suse

 

[Frankly Speaking]

Shay:

At this point, the best action is no action. Do not try to prevent the normal, natural adhesions from reforming. Do not use Vaseline. Do not inspect it. Advise the doctor not to retract it even a little. 10 days to two weeks would be a normal healing time for an injury such as this and it sounds like the healing is proceeding normally.

The human body is an amazing thing especially in the very young. It is very resilient and repairs itself very well. If your son is left to do what the body is equiped to do, it is unlikely that your son will experience negative effects later.

Frank

 

[gaffa]

OH,

I'm so sorry. Poor guy. I'd make a mental note to tell ANYONE who might be changing his diaper to leave that thing alone!

I've made it a point to tell caregivers because too many go with the assumption that foreskins are supposed to be pulled back. It's not their fault, they are just trying to do what's best, unfortunately the popular myth is that one pulls it back to clean it during diaper changes. I can't tell you how many people I've run into assume that.

Hope your little guy feels better soon.

 

[Lisa P.]

I hope your son feels better soon. I know it is hard to see him in pain! I am so sorry.

Starting next month my 7 month old intact son will be in a home-based daycare on a part-time basis. I asked the caregiver there if she had any experience with inact boys and she said she didn't, but that she learned in one of her childcare certification classes that the foreskin of an intact boy should always be pulled back for cleaning during a diaper change (!!!!!!!!!!). Well, I set her straight about that pretty quick! I just could not believe that they are teaching this. She was embarrassed but its really not her fault if this is what they are teaching in child care classes!

 

[ThomasL]

Hi Lisa,I think you should find out from your childcare person where those certification classes are held.Those instructors need to be aware of the false information on nocirc care that they are providing.They can also be liable if such instrutions results in an injury.I cant believe the level of ignorance that is rampant among those who should know better.

 

[isleta]

Hi Shay! I hope you ds is feeling better! My ds foreskin was retracted by his ped. if you can believe it. I felt pretty bad because I should have known not to let the Dr. do this to him. He had some issues and a UTI because of the cuts from the retraction.

He is still not circ. and It was hard to get that across to the ped. urologist. I finally drove to see Dr. Fliess and thank goddness he is here! He also gave me cream and it helped ds a lot. It did take almost a week to finally not feel pain while urinating, so you are doing fine. My Ds foreskin was retracted more than once unfortunately, and he does get some pain, but we put the cream on and it helps greatly. I am so sorry you and ds have to go through this! I understand and know that it can and will get better!

You are lucky that your Dr. is supportive. The doctors I went to wanted to cut away! I could not imagine him getting circ. at 2.5 yrs !!

BTW, he is still perfect and is so fortunate to have a mama that cares so much for his well being

 

[teniprice]

Ok, ds went for his 2 year check up yesterday with a new ped. (we just moved to another state and this is a new dr. for us). My ds is intact. When the ped. was looking in his diaper, he started trying to pull back his foreskin. When I told him not to, he told me that it had to be pulled back to clean it. Well, I have never had any problems with ds being "dirty" and I have NEVER pulled back his foreskin. I don't even check to see if it's retracting. He pulls on it enough on his own and I figure that is ok with me. Was this dr. wrong? My ds did show some anxiety (moving around) when he was trying to pull back the foreskin. I thought it was just supposed to be left alone. Who was right? Luckily, he didn't do any harm as it didn't pull back very far, but should I tell him to not even do that at his next check up (at 3 years old). Thanks!
Teniece
Megan 8.10.99
Jacob 10.22.01

 

[Sarah]

I let some links in the second post in this thread... read those... write a letter to the Dr with the current AAP info on caring for an intact boy.

That Dr. needs to get with the program.

AAP care instructions for your Dr.
http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/aap1999/

love Sarah

 

[Frankly Speaking]

Teniece:

You are absolutely right and the doctor is absolutely wrong! The reason your son was anxious and moving around is because the doctor was HURTING HIM. There is nothing at all for the doctor to look inside the foreskin for. If there is any problem at all, it will manifest itself on the outside and will be very apparent. The next time you go to see the doctor, tell him in a very firm voice not to retract your son for any reason and that if he feels he must retract him to tell you because you will leave and find another doctor.

There is a reason the foreskin is bonded to the glans in a young child. That is to keep everything out of the foreskin and to prevent infections. Breaking that bond prematurely is just asking for problems. Let it happen at it's own time.

This is like taking your car to the mechanic and having to tell him not to break your car and how to repair it. You need to find another mechanic and you need to find another doctor if he doesn't have time to educate himself on the proper care of your son.

Frank