by Amy Hartley

Created on: December 05, 2009

Circumcision is one of the early decisions that will be made in your early days as a new parent. There will most certainly be many more, but after the choice to breast feed or not comes to circumcise or not. Some parents choose to go with the "norm" and circumcise their son, but for others the process is a hard decision to make.

Circumcision is the process of removing the excess skin from around the head of the penis. This skin is called the foreskin. All baby boys are born with this sheath-like covering on their penis. The foreskin is thought to protect from infection the urethra canal of the infant. Urinating in diapers and sitting in this urine can sometimes cause infections such as bladder or kidney. The skin helps prevent the urinary meatus, or the opening at the tip of the penis from laying against this urine. This skin also keeps the head of the penis more sensitive to touch. This will only come into concern later in your son's life.

With this being said, there are for more reasons for a boy to be circumcised. The obvious is the stigma from not being circumcised. Imagine your son in high school, in the locker room after gym and he is the only boy with a foreskin. This may seem petty to some but will effect your son more than is imagined. The percentages of boys with circumcisions far out way the percentage without. Your son may be the only boy in his school who is not circumcised.

Urinary infections have actually been shown to increase in boys without circumcisions. The foreskin, once over the head of the penis acts as a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and infection to grow. The urine moistens the skin, and once the head of the penis is covered with the skin the bacteria warm up and reproduce very quickly. There is also an increased risk for fungal infections, such as yeast to grow in the foreskin area. All of these problems can be prevented with good hygiene, if concerned enough to take care of cleaning after every urination or lovemaking episode.

The head of the penis can never be desensitized. Probably the most concern for fathers out there. The head of the penis has more nerve endings than any other part of the male body. The foreskin itself would be constantly rubbing against the head of the penis to create friction and possibly decrease sensation. This point is not a valid argument to not circumcise your son. The sensation will remain great throughout his life. There is a small risk of loosing sensation during the actual circumcision. There have been cases where the head of the penis has accidentally been cut during the procedure. Remember to evaluate your choice of pediatricians, and ask about their procedure experience and how the process is completed per their protocol. A baby that is secured to a baby board for the procedure is much less likely to have the ability to squirm and have complications.

Some people argue the procedure is not painful to your baby. Of course it is. Ask that your baby have Tylenol or Ibuprofen before the procedure. Most hospitals provide a sugar based syrup during the procedure to ease the procedure discomfort. This is sometimes called Sweet Ease. Demand to have these medicines available for you son when completing the procedure. If these are given the pain is bearable and doing it early in life ensures that your son will not remember this somewhat painful procedure.

The choice should be easy now that the facts have been given. Make your one of your first decisions as a parent the correct one. Be humane, but do circumcise for better health in the future.

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