(Unnecessary?) Surgery on Infants.

[marijke_rose]

Alright, I'm posting about it, and this is a public entry. The information here is specifically in regards to the United States of America.

It is, meanwhile, considered proven that newborns feel pain more intensely than adults

Comments

[marijke_rose]

I didn't until I first started reading about the topic a few years ago. In adults, though, the foreskin has come back off the head (no ripping it away), and there is no huge fear over how much painkillers to give. (To my understanding, this was the reason for not using painkillers: they couldn't be sure how much is safe to administer to a newborn

re: complications

[kamamamama]

In my mothers' group of 86 mothers of children born in late 1998, just over half of the babies were boys. I don't remember how many of those were circumcized, but exactly half of those had complications, and two of them required follow-up surgery. (After the second surgery someone sat down to work out the numbers) I was really surprised.

[kamamamama]

I was anti-circumcision before kids (the minister that married us, a respected friend, was very anticirc and included it in his premarital counseling so I was thinking and researching it early), but one thing that cemented the decision in my mind was one woman's experience. The personality of her baby changed radically and for the worse after the surgery and she really regretting having it done. She said it was like losing her child and getting a stranger in his place.

[marijke_rose]

Wow, that is powerful, indeed.
Thank you for telling me about her experience.

I was lucky to have the issue come up in a discussion (an international discussion somewhere) that ended up with me researching it, and eventually making a firm decision about it before I ever had a baby.