pros and cons

Mine isn't. I don't have any desire, religious view or need to have him circumcised. Unless there was a medical reason why he had to have it, it's staying as it is. Just my personal opinion

I wanted to leave that decision to my partner, but he doesn’t really know either. He’s circumcised so he thinks that being circumcised is fine and he doesn’t mind it at all. Therefore, I’m thinking to circumcise my son just for some added hygienic benefits… And if it’s done when they’re just born, it seems like the consciousness of the pain isn’t really registered? Whereas if he gets as adult it’ll be much more painful and memorable, and prob without its own complications. For the record, I definitely don’t think my partner lacks any sensitivity due to being circumcised, that seems to be a common argument I hear about it

Absolutely did not want that for my son at all. Hygiene reasons isn’t a good enough excuse for me as I can just happily teach my son to clean himself correctly. I don’t have any cultural reason to do it but that also wouldn’t sway me. My partner agreed with the above and absolutely didn’t want it for his son.

Im pregnant with my first boy and we decided not to circumcise! To me just finding out it’s classified as a cosmetic procedure and seeing how often they are botched and stuff definitely made me second guess it and do more research. If I had just let my husband decide he’d def choose circumcision with zero research just because he is. But I feel like as a mom my first job is to protect and do the work to learn and decide what’s best for him and not leave the choice solely up to my hubby just because he’s a man which I see a lot of women saying on here as a reason for stepping back on the choice. If there’s a medical reason I’d choose to do it otherwise it’s very unnecessary and you’re kinda stepping on their autonomy and taking away that choice for them which who knows, they may come to resent later because circumcision rates in the US have been steadily declining as more parents research it and realize it’s not necessary

I can’t understand why you’d do it unless for medical or religious reasons? It’s crazy to me. Teaching them to clean properly when ready is good enough. That’s what I’ve done with my sons

Also when people say it’s for cleanliness and reduced risk of penile cancer and STDs etc the reduction is so minuscule that i dont think it should even be a factor or reason to overstep their autonomy. Like in comparison to girls uncut boys and men still have lower risk so to me it’s like saying to cut off your ears so you don’t get an ear infection lol. With proper hygiene it won’t be a problem at all, especially when we remember most of the world leaves their boys natural and they do just fine :) the foreskin is there for a reason and served a purpose!

We circumcised our son and I’m so glad we did.

Can just ask what are the reasons to get this done? I'm from the UK and unless it's religious or medical it's not a thing that's even offered

@Laura tradition mostly, sometimes tied to religion as well. And ignorance of the foreskin and it’s function because of how long it’s been the practiced and unquestioned norm. Half of all Americans still think it greatly reduces risks of infections and that it’s the healthier safer choice because of lack of research

Both my grandfather's ended up having to get circumcized due to frequent UTIs, one in his 20s one in his 80s. Apparently there's only a 10% increase in UTI risk if uncircumcised, but uncircumcised men can get frequent UTIs even if they clean properly. They both were advocates of circumcising as babies after that, and for two men who knew what both ways was like to advocate for circumcising, it was kind of an easy choice for me. I did leave it up to my husband though and he agreed with me.

We did not. We arent jewish and we plan to educate him well on hygiene. Beyond those two reasons, i dont see another valid reason. Ive had family tell me it will be more attractive to circumcise as if that's not a creepy reason to injure my child. For me, it seems like a cosmetic procedure only under the guise of hygiene. Some people have family history of problems with the foreskin, in that case i understand! But for us if we dont run into issues, we'll let our son decide for himself as a young adult.

We did, I left the decision to my husband and I followed the advice of our providers.

Another thing to think about when considering UTIs and infections is that the numbers are skewed because of the ignorance in the medical community. US doctors and nurses were completely misinformed about circumcision until recently because it wasn’t the norm to leave boys alone. They were preaching forced retraction and literally forcing the foreskin back in uncut boys which causes infections because you’re supposed to let young kids foreskin retract over time naturally. My Gpa got circumcised at 8 years old because of UTIs only because of reaccuring trauma of forced retraction advised by doctors to clean under the foreskin. If left alone it would’ve never happened. Which is another good reason to look at rates of other countries and not let singular experiences sway your mind completely

@Autumn i didn’t know it was considered cosmetic! my partner isn’t circumcised being he was born in France, but he has no opinion on it..that’s when i started to do my research and like i said it led to more on the side of not doing it! but google and recent articles that i’ve found weren’t much help, when i started to overthink it bc the i read about the risk of disease which gets me confused. some are saying “do it bc of this or if you wanna lower the chance of this” left my brain jumbled. thank you for sharing your information!

@gabby yep routine infant circumcision is categorized as cosmetic! It’s only considered a health procedure if there’s other issues going on and doctors recommend it. The info can be so overwhelming, what I feel like is the best statement that sums it up is from the American academy of pediatrics which says that the benefits of circumcision aren’t great enough to recommend it being routinely done to all males but they’re sufficient enough to let parents who specifically ask and choose it to have that access to it if they want. It sounds like you’re already on the right track educating yourself, you’ll make the best decision for your baby whichever it is🤍

Both my boys are circumcised and I don't regret it at all. Down the line they can get infections etc. And honestly the recovery wasn't bad

We didn't circumcise our boy. It's actually not evidence based. The US is the only country that routinely circumcises for non religious reasons. Most people have the view that it's "cleaner" but that is only true if you don't teach your boy how to take care of and clean his body. Letting boys be unhygienic just because they're boys doesn't make any sense to me. It also decreases sensation later in life because all of those nerve endings are constantly exposed to the outside. They also don't regularly sedate babies for circumcision and pain management is non-existent after the procedure. As someone who watched multiple circumcision procedures during school, it was awful to witness. They may not remember it as adults but they're in horrible pain when it is done and I personally couldn't see putting my son through that kind of pain for purely cosmetic reasons.

I was mixed on it but my husband was adamant about getting him circumcised. My husband was not circumcised and wishes he had been. He says it’s a lot more cleaning and maintenance lol.

I have two boys and haven’t circumcised either of them. I live in Australia where it is very much the norm to NOT circumcise (unless there is a strong religious/cultural preference to do so). There is just no discussion here about needing to do it for cleanliness reasons and no doctor will recommend it. In the US it seems to be justified by the cleanliness argument but as far as I can see it is more just a cultural norm and people don’t realise that. Interesting to read what someone wrote above about retracting too young and that causing later issues. Perhaps those who don’t circumcise are always recommended to retract too young in the US and THAT is what causes the hygiene issues (the injury caused) rather than the lack of circumcision? Would explain why a lot of people think it causes hygiene issues in the US where in Australia it’s not even a question?

In my child’s case, he had a birth defect that affected him down there so he had to have a corrective surgery and that resulted in him being essentially circumcised. I really hadn’t made any decision one way or another but when we were in the hospital after he was Born they told us he couldn’t be circumcised if we had wanted him to so the decision was made for us!

I have two boys (5 and 1 month old) and I didn’t circumcised them both. My husband wasn’t circumcised. We both just had a mutual agreement about it. You just gotta teach them how to properly clean/wash them and/or build a good hygiene.

Long story short i didn't really want to but I always said id leave up to my sons father. For him it was a no brainer. I made my own conditions for it. •Baby would be numbed with something (they usually don't numb just give sugar water) •Dad would stay with baby the whole time (at our hospital he was even able to be in the room during as well) He agreed to the conditions. Now that my first son is 1 and I just had another boy a week ago. I'm happy I circumcised for both. They never had any problems with it irritating them or anything. Healing always went well and fast (1 week of putting Vaseline in the diaper- that was it) and tho it's not the best reason I'm happy they will be considered more "Normal" for lack of better words. In the African American community it's not too common for boys to be uncircumcised. It's rare to come by (tho it's getting more popular with the latest bunch of babies🙏🏾💕) i do kno how mean women can be and (again i kno its not a good reason) I'm happy they won't be "weird"

I wouldn’t if I had a son.

we chose to for incase he ever became disabled and couldn’t clean properly or when he elderly and can’t clean properly. it’s a faster and easier healing process when they’re babies

We didn’t, I have two boys the oldest being 6 and have never had problems. My husband has taught him how to clean himself while showering and also me how to help them both. It about cleanliness and I just couldn’t bring myself to put my NEWBORN through that.

I didn’t get either of my boys done - they’re 3 & 2, my general consensus was that the supposed pros weren’t valid enough imo to go through with it. They’ve never had any issues with infection/utis etc.

I would say the biggest thing that led me to circumsize my son would be that his uncle isn’t circumsized and was talking with his parents about how he would get constant yeast infections and would start to smell from not being 100 percent able to pull back all of the skin. However you decide will be what is right for your family!