[carang]

thank you, i realise that the two are completely different.

however, it is my personal opinion that there is no need in this day and age to put any child through the pain that is necessarily involved in circumcision. i wonder if you asked uncircumcised males if they would do it now that they are adults, how many would say yes?(obviously, if it is for religious reasons, that is a different matter).

[momofthree]

My husband chose to be circumcised at age 11.Preferred the look and did not want the extra maintainance.

[carang]

just a note, i wasnt' being sarcastic or anything, it was a true wondering.

[aussiegal]

I'm with you Carang. I would never put my boys through any pain unnecessarily so unless we were presented with a medical reason requiring it it would not be something we would even consider. This despite the fact that my husband is circumcised.

[Matty]

Just because men can't remember the pain of circumcision, doesn't make it any less painful at the time.
You can break a baby's arm and he won't remember it when he's 10, but I'm sure the baby would still prefer it not to happen.

There isn't just the procedure to consider. It's also the fact that your tiny baby has to recover from a surgery over a period of time.

I get the fact that a small number of boys need to be circumcised, for medical or religious reasons.
I just think it's sad that a lot are put through it for what amounts to fashion.

[sophwillsmum]

I have to agree about the pain thing. My 6 year old daughter lived in hospital for her first year of life(the last few months on life support in intensive care) before finally getting a life saving liver transplant at 11 months old. My little princess endured more needles, catheters and invasive procedures than I care to think about. To this day, if she is well she 'only' needsto have blood tests every 8 weeks for the rest of her life. If she is unwell it can be as often as a few times per day. I have to say that her pain tolerance is HUGE so I'm not sure what kind of people were observed in the pain study. She broke her arm quite badly in two places last year and when we took her to the hospital, they wanted to send her home as they believed that she looked too happy to have hurt herself. iI wasn't until we insisted that they would even give her an x-ray.The doctors were quite floored when they saw how bad the x-ray was.

Anyway, that is my two cents worth.I am not going to butt in on the debate, but any mums who are worried about the long term psychological consequences of such a 'painful' procedure should be assured that your baby will definitely 'get over it.'
Sally.