Hellobee Boards

I had my son circumcised and it made no impact on breastfeeding at all. I don't see how the two are related.

My son was circumcised on day 3 before we left the hospital. He's 4 weeks old now and breastfeeding is going great (besides using a shield, but that's completely unrelated).

My son was circumcised at 2 weeks old and it didn't affect breastfeeding at all.

Interesting, I've never heard that. I had a really rough/unsuccessful go of BFing but it started with LO refusing to latch in the hospital (which continued after his circumcision at 8 days) and he basically never took to the breast ever. I guess it's impossible to know but my guess is that it had more to do with my low supply and him just being impatient/sleepy than the circumcision.

Although our circ was done well and we had no complications, I probably wouldn't do it if my husband wasn't completely adamant about it (related to religious reasons). That said, I don't really have regrets and I'm glad we did it when he was so young.

I'm on the fence when it comes to circumcision, too, so I hear you. One thing I would say about this particular idea is that I don't see how you could say definitively that circumcision is to blame for any breast feeding issues. There are so many factors that can go into why people have trouble breast feeding and while I do think this is an interesting theory, I'm just not sure that there would be a way to study it and really know for sure that circumcision is what made things difficult, if that makes sense.

@MrsSCB: so we wouldn't choose to circumcise, but I think this is a really good point. If you do circ, and have problems breastfeeding, you won't know for sure either way what the problem was. It won't be the first thing that happens, so you will have time in those "early crucial hours" to breastfeed before the cut. It's probably more likely that breastfeeding will go fine for you, regardless of your choice to circ or not.
It's a tough decision to make. But I would try not to let your worries about breastfeeding be the reason you choose either option. There are far more compelling reasons on both sides, in my opinion.

Eta: I see the studies you posted. I mean, circumcision hurts the baby. I think trauma is an appropriate word for it. That might be a compelling reason to choose to not do it. I was very nervous about breastfeeding. Even when it was clear from early latches and my milk coming in early, I was still nervous. It was sooo important to me. So I never tried a pacifier, until maybe 6 weeks and my kid wouldn't take one. Ever. And she really would be a much better sleeper if she would. I know this is kind of a lame comparison, but when it comes to choices about our kids we just have to do what we think is right and not travel down the path of what ifs, because everything is too difficult to predict.

If you choose to circumcise, you could always opt to have your pediatrician do it at about two weeks old rather than do it in the first few days in the hospital. We decided not to circumcise, but if we had, we would have done it at our son's two week appointment.

Mostly I agree with @Silva: that there are much more compelling reasons to circumcise or not.

@Danizaur: I didn't get my son circumcised in the hospital, because I was going to get one of my colleagues do it instead of the OB. So he was circumcised on day eight of life. I do remember a nurse saying that it was great that he didn't get circumcised in the hospital because it can make them out of sorts. It didn't make breast-feeding any harder that day. Honestly, whether breast feeding is successful or not probably won't be determined by a quick procedure. Go with your gut though. That is the most important thing.

@Danizaur: where is this article from? It's definitely biased since the first sentence of the third paragraph states something about ignoring common sense on the issue. A reliable source does not inject opinion into the material.

I don't have any advice for you. We opted to not circumcise - to a lot of raised eyebrows from family (who weren't suppose to find out and did, dammit!). But I know how agonizing a decision it can be and I wish you the best of luck!

Our first son was circumcised, we breastfed, and we had problems with breastfeeding PRIOR to the circumcision. I don't feel that it had much, if any effect on how he did post-birth. Our son had jaundice and was a sleepy nurser prior to his circ, and continued to be after, to me whether he was circ'ed or not made absolutely zero difference.

We are planning to circumcise our second son just as we did with our first when he arrives this spring. I would rather have it done as early as possible, instead of antagonizing over having it done days or weeks after leaving the hospital. Plus there are many more people available to help you while you are still in the hospital before you are discharged.

I feel that any time someone is unhappy with a procedure or situation, you will hear about it 100-fold more than everyone else who was fine with their experience, especially with an outlet as anonymous as the internet. Dr. Google is a great place to scare the heck out of yourself.

@Danizaur: Oh boy were there words. One person called him "disgusting" and I nearly flew out of the hospital bed. And another IL was like, "What is he going to do with all that extra skin?!" All that extra skin? Really? lol.

As a doula, I have seen circumcision interfere with breastfeeding.

Mostly it just makes the baby upset and out of sorts, and they seem to have more problems with getting the latch right, etc. it honestly just seems like they are out of it and stressed.

Of course this is just in my own experience with some if my doula babies, not ALL have this reaction. I also see this kind of thing in babies who had traumatic births and other medical procedures after birth.

That's just what I've observed, but it isn't true across the board in every case.

@Danizaur: interesting. I haven't read all the responses and didn't circ DS. But MIL said DH refused to nurse/latch etc when he was born. I wonder if it was the procedure. However she had no issues breastfeeding his little bro.

DS was circumcised at about 2 weeks. It did not have an impact on BF. 9 months and going strong.

I'd say he was sleepy that day, but we just spend the day cuddling and feeding.

I think the worst part for the baby is when the anesthetic wears off, that is when he was the most upset, but that lasted less than a minute. He nursed and then was fine.