circumcision

My husband had to be circumcised when he was about 8 and I suspect it ha affected him more than it would have done when he was a baby. A chap I worked with had to be circumcised when he was in his 20's and didn't find it a pleasant experience!

That is correct but in some children there can be problems and quite nasty urinary tract infections can happen, DDs father had the same problem and after ending up in Hospital age 2 with a very severe infection and had to be circumcised.
We shall see what his very experienced Peadeatrician says tomorrow morning.

JessM I understood that the foreskin is not automatically retractable in the early years and it should not be attempted. I probably got that from Dr Gordon Bournes most excellent 1970s book "Pregnancy."

Leave well alone unless they are problems seems to be the general advice.

I can't help thinking the foreskin must be there for a reason and not just to keep the local rabbis and Mohels in business.

www.kidshealth.org.nz/foreskin-care

I had my son circumcised for the same reason. He's now in his four ties and seems happy with it.

He is 21 months, his foreskin is about half a centimetre longer than his penis, and he has had some redness and it seems to irritate him, my DD and I are going to the doctors tomorrow morning to discuss it, SIL is working away for a couple of days.

It is not normal to be able to pull back the foreskin of a little boy is it? Aren't they often semi-adhered when they are little?

When I was a paediatric nurse we used to see many young boys with phimosis and, more recently as a general nurse, grown men also.

As the doctor will have to operate to 'slit' I'd be inclined to go for circumcision for two reasons: the problem could return as he gets older, and he will need an anaesthetic whichever procedure he has.

Best to go with the 'full monty'.

How old is your grandson Felice?

DS had this problem and had, as you describe, 'the full monty'. It has never caused him any problems.

I do not think the alternative was available when he had it done in the late 1970s so can offer no opinion on that.

I suffered from this as a baby, and was circumcised... being a hefty baby I burst the stitches and nearly bled to death! Fortunately a nurse spotted it in time and all was well. If it's necessary, it should be done, but I would not support it for any superstitious purposes - then it becomes mutilation.

Sorry about the spelling, DGS has hidden my reading glasses again !!!!!!