When to Circumcise and Why
We had our first son, Bode, circumcised two days after his birth and assumed things would be the same with our second. What we hadn’t anticipated was Beckett’s 11-day stint in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. By the time I called the doctor a few days after my son’s discharge, I was told to bring him in immediately or she would not perform his circumcision—the surgical procedure to remove the layer of skin (called the foreskin or the prepuce) that covers the head (glans) of the penis and part of the shaft. Who knew there was such a limited time span for circumcisions?
timing is crucial
While the Canadian Paediatric Society does not recommend routine circumcision for newborn boys, if you have decided to have your child circumcised due to personal, religious or cultural reasons, the ideal time to have him circumcised is between 24 and 72 hours after birth. “We don’t recommend before 24 hours because the newborn could have an undiagnosed medical issue and we don’t want to subject him to an elective procedure,” says Dr. Rui Martins, a family physician with privileges at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and at Women’s College Hospital where he performs circumcisions. The attending pediatrician or family doctor needs to see your baby prior to any circumcision to ensure the baby is healthy before it is carried out. Once you’ve been given the okay, you should proceed as quickly as possible. In the first few days after birth, babies tend to bleed less and fuss less during a circumcision. Dr. Martins adds, “As the baby grows, the foreskin develops a greater blood supply, which may cause more bleeding during and after circumcision if it is done after two or three weeks of age. This can pose additional risks to the baby,” says Dr. Martins, who does not perform a circumcision once the baby passes two weeks of age if born full-term, adding, “In my view, the decision to circumcise should be made either before the birth or soon after.”
delayed decision
Many doctors believe that after babies reach two weeks of age they become much more aware and experience more discomfort. But, “there is technically no difference between performing a circumcision on a six-month-old and a nine-year-old,” when it comes to trauma and recovery, says Dr. Joao Pippi Salle, chief pediatric urologist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The use of an anesthetic during newborn circumcision is debated, but certainly after the first few weeks, doctors agree that circumcision requires a general anesthetic and many doctors don’t like to perform the procedure on any child under five for several reasons, including the problem that younger children will try to touch their penis while it’s healing.
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