I’m no expert, but I’m somewhat confident my now 16-month-old son’s circumcision was not done correctly. I remember the doctor telling us on day two after his birth, that he would be back later to do the quick procedure. Well, the good news is he kept his promise, but at the expense of my son’s penis, perhaps?
It was after 11 p.m. when the doctor returned to our hospital room to ask if he could take my son to circumcise him. Of course, I was happy to see him and thought, wow, he kept his word! Guess he went home for dinner with the family and/or had more babies to deliver. But he came back. In no time, he was back in our room (before I could even fall asleep) and said the baby did great — he was tough and barely even cried. Hmmmm, looking back, maybe we now know why.
When we came home from the hospital and in the weeks that followed, my husband and I noticed the tip around the penis was red and looked inflamed. He squirmed every time we would change his diaper and cry when we touched it with a wipe or washcloth. When we went for a check-up, the doctor pointed out that the foreskin was in fact stuck to the head and needed to be unrolled or pulled down every time we changed him. Great, I thought. This would be torture for the poor little guy. How long would he have to endure this pain? We did what the doctor suggested, and it seemed to get better. He would still cry when we pulled the skin back, but it was not red anymore and it was not stuck. However, there was more skin than I remember being left after my firstborn’s circumcision.
Fast forward a few months and we went back for another checkup — this time around six months. The doctor agreed that it didn’t look normal and said it looked like they didn’t take enough skin off. I felt relieved we weren’t imagining things until she said, “Hopefully, he will grow into it.” Hopefully?!? How long will that take? I know he has a lot of growing to do — in all areas of his body — and maybe this could still happen in time because I don’t see much of a difference yet some 10 months later.
I feel terrible every time he cries when I get near it. I know it’s a choice and not everyone chooses circumcision, but we did, and we hope it corrects itself like the doctor mentioned. If it doesn’t, what are our other options… re-circumcision?
I was looking online to see what other parents had to say who experienced something similar. Many suggested getting a second or third opinion in the event he may need surgical intervention later down the road.
Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did you do?
Same issue! Our little guy is almost a year old. He doesn’t seem like it hurts much, but we are still pulling skin back with each diaper change. Our pediatrician has the same wait and see if he grows into it approach – and we have seen 2 different ones now at different practices. Not sure what the answer is going to be!
Yes!!! Our story is almost identical to yours. Our pediatrician was not the one who did his circumcision, and when we went to his check up he said “I didn’t do this, did I? “ He is now 2 and it has gotten slightly better, but there’s definitely extra skin than what a normal circumcised penis should look like . We’re taking it year by year to see if surgical correction is necessary.
Yes! My son had a circumcision revision done at 9 months because they didn’t take enough skin off the first time. He had an odd looking “turtle neck” that we knew didn’t look normal. We also had to keep pulling the excess skin down when cleaning. Dr. Mercer at Nemours did the procedure and I cant say enough good things about her. I recommend taking him to see her right away (you may need a referral from your pediatrician).
How many unnecessary surgery is this defenseless baby boy need before he’s perfect? Because he wasn’t good enough when he was born.
I feel like your doctor failed you in telling you about home care – it sounds like it grew back together some. Ours told us to keep it moist with vaseline, to push the skin down every single diaper change without fail and to make sure it stayed clean (other than the vaseline) – and the pediatrician still had to do a minor skin detachment later despite all of that (but at like 4 months – I don’t know who your pediatrician is, but I’d be finding a new one for a second opinion, because she sounds inept as well). Good luck, mama and son.
The exact same with us. My son is 8 and doesn’t even look circumcised. He’s special needs and doesn’t keep it clean as he should so I have to do it , or he will get an infection. It’s a big fight each time cause no 8 yr old, special needs or not, wants his mom doing that.
Maybe you should have just left your sons penis alone. Then he would have had to go through being tortured as a days olds infant, and for however long you retracted him.
Wow, that was helpful and non judgmental at all. Didn’t seem anti-semite at all.
I have seen a lot of circumcisions gone wrong. I worked with babies& toddlers for 12 years and there were tons of boys getting re-circd after time went by. My two older boys are cut. Fast forward 17 years and now regretfully knowing circumcision was always a “choice”. This makes me sad because, to the uninformed, it was/is not. It’s “just what we do” here in AMERICA.
Basic human rights are being violated everyday because of social conformity. Baby boys are born perfect, too!
Gosh same thing with my now 13 month old. My second child’s circumcision was a breeze. Unfortunately not with the third. I was told as long as it is not interfering with his urination then maybe the skin will pull back as he got older. The other 2 options was do it now under general anesthesia or wait till he is old enough to understand (13 or so). I’m waiting till he can take care of it. It’s torture for a toddler.
Ya same thing happend to me. Everything is ok now but why in the first place…. that fourskin is there for a reason. God and nature devised that perfectly. It protects the nerves of the penis from drying out damage and many many other important roles. If you’re a mom and you support this. Let’s cut the lips off your vagina and let those nerves be exposed to the air. It will be easier to clean right? What’s truly evil and sick is that yall did it without my consent. That was my choice my right. My body God gave me. And yall took it. Nerve cells have died from being unnaturally exposed to the air and element’s 24/7 now, causing a lesser sexual experience in all cut men.
Same experience here, and my pediatrician had to separate it at two different times (I think at 1 yr and 2yr). She said if he got too old, would have to do it surgically but his was ok after she did it.
How about NOT MUTILATING YOUR SON’S PENIS? I bet he will not be thankful for your “choice” which was absolutely not yours to make. It is not your penis. You are not the one using it. Circumcision destroys so many important functions and when adult, sex will never feel so enjoyable as it would with intact genitals and his future partner will suffer from it too. Maybe do some research next time you plan to mutilate someone’s genitals.