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I had DS circumcised. It came down to wanting him to look like his father. It was something I let DH make the final call on, and he felt more comfortable with circumcision, especially because of the higher rate of STDs in uncircumcised males.

DS didn't seem to be in a lot of discomfort, but he slept most of the first week. It took a while to heal, and we were using vaseline on gauze pads for about three weeks to keep it clean while it healed.

It wasn't a big deal either way, and I think if we have more boys we will circumcise again, but I haven't given it much thought. I just don't imagine having one son circumcised and the other not.

I feel the way you do and luckily DH asked me what I thought and he said he felt the same way too. I did say it was his decision, since I don't have the parts to understand.

So, we didn't cut him and I'm really happy about that. I don't know much about penises, but this week at our LO's 2 month appointment the doc pulled back on his foreskin and said to me that it looks like it will retract naturally on its own soon....something to that effect. He said sometimes they are tight, but his is not.

I am glad I was not having to deal with learning how to care for a newborn AND care for a cut penis at the same time.

We didnt circ because in our hospital, it is major surgery with anesthesia.

I tried to leave the decision to my husband, but he insisted we make it together, so we opted not to circ even though my husband is circed. He didn't buy into father/ son needing to look alike either.

Since I was the one researching EVERYTHING, not DH it was my job to discuss (ie, persuade him!) it with him. Our midwife felt VERY strongly against circumcision so we delved into why and found out the history and I also formed the same opinion about it as you, that it's not even necessary. DH was actually a lot harder to convince because he couldn't fathom our son being different, but i told him this goes way beyond looks. It was hard for him to take himself out of the equation and look at it logically, but when he did, he agreed with me (it took a couple months) and we didn't circumcise. We've had no issues whatsoever.

Generally, I feel the same way you do - that it's unnecessary and painful. I've participated in a few circumcisions as a nursing student. When I originally asked DH what he thought, he deferred to me, but when I prodded him for how he actually felt about it, he said he wants our boys to be like him. He doesn't have very strong feelings about much, so I felt that his decision should stand.

Marriage and parenthood require compromise so our boys are going to be circumcised. I have very rarely heard of infections/complications with proper care - which I can easily provide. So that's that, I guess!

Oh I also just wanted to point out-- without proper cleaning and care, you also have the chance of infection and the foreskin attaching to the head of the penis. So either way you have to be vigilant. Circumcised you don't really have to worry about it after it's healed, but uncircumcised you have to regularly peel back and wash under the foreskin... and then you have to teach them how to maintain it themselves.

LO is circumcised. DH is Jewish, so that definitely played into it. If it were up to me, I'd probably skip it. We didn't have any issues/complications- we put ointment on it while it healed, but other than that, we've never had any issues with maintenance.
@mrstilly I used to work in int'l HIV prevention, and one of the PIs I used to work for would get really frustrated with all the circumcision initiatives. Her point was that it took away from directing resources and attention towards behavior change that would reduce HIV risk, but one of the things she'd say was that no one ever contracted HIV from being in a room alone with his foreskin.

@looch: @rachiecakes: We were seeing signs of re-attachment with what was left of the foreskin (which is quite a lot) and the head of the penis so our pedi sent us to a urologist. He said that sometimes when a circumcision is conservative or when a boy is uncircumcised this can happen, so we'd just have to push it back once a day and make sure it was clean inside. He said it was no big deal, but to me that's a lot more maintenance than doing NOTHING, especially when you're dealing with a cranky toddler.

I don't remember asking for a conservative circumcision though. I'm over it now, not like we're going to do anything about it now that he's older, and the urologist said he's fine, but it sucks that we had it done and dealt with the healing process and still have to deal with reattachment worries as if he was never circumcised!

Also, I have heard that the trend when our generation was babies was to be circumcised, and now the trend is to not. So like everything in raising babies, there are trends... !

I am leaving it up to DH and I am pretty sure we won't be circumcising any boys we might be blessed with!

@mrs. wagon: aw, poor DS I don't think that happens too often though
it is funny how there are trends with generations of baby-raising whether it's breastfeeding, circumcision, etc.

It was a rough decision for us -- my mother told me of her memory of having my brother circumcised, and how her hours-old baby came back to her "shaking from head to toe." We ultimately decided to get him circumcised because my husband is, and hey, at least you could say you look like dad. (Although really: how often do fathers and sons really see the other one... but no matter.)

Anyway, my baby didn't seem to react poorly to it at all. He slept so soundly afterwards that I was worried they'd given him some pain meds, but no -- they said that's just how some babies react.

I never saw him bloody. Everything healed well, we put ointment and gauze on it as directed, and after a few weeks it was normal. I haven't thought about it since the day we had it done!

@cyneswith: this this this. I just don't get it at all!