or Connect
Mothering › Mothering Forums › Pregnancy and Birth › Understanding Circumcision › Does anyone know how long pain from circumcision last after the procedure ?-need info
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:


post #1 of 8
Thread Starter 
As I recall having pain & uncomfiness with my epistomy for up to 4 wks and that was with tynelol w/ codeiene-pain medicine . I felt more pain with that than I did with all the surgeries I had in my life time epistomy was more painful & uncomfier than throwing up with your jaws wired shut.

So we know babies feel pain more intensely - how long are they truly with pain after the operation if we can assume a gal as an adult who suffered a tear or had a epistomy that ended up with cutting & stitches would have pain like me in her private region for 4 wks could we assume a baby boy might have longer lasting pain -depending on the type of circumcision & how big the wound is ? Could a baby actually have pain for as long as 4 wks or possibly for more weeks ? If a baby could have pain for 4 wks or longer and be without pain medcine or state you can give pain medcine for up until etc.

We hear talk of pain of injections shots for those who do the shots and state you can be able to use infant tynelol because the 'child might have pain in the injection site. It's a poke and they offer pain medicine for a shot! But for ripping apart a baby private part seems to less pain than a shot or after a shot which is one thing I don't get ?
post #2 of 8
I dunno. Pain is very subjective to past experience. Granted, newborn babies don't have any past experiences as far as pain is concerned- well very few. I guess it would depend on how badly you were cut/torn and if you had pain meds for being stitched back up. I tore after my 3rd delivery (the one I remember the best from this part) and had lidocaine to numb it and still felt one or two stitches go in. It wasn't a big deal. I've had MUCH worse pain in my life- even worse than having the baby w/o meds!

The bit about "less pain than w/ meds" for circ I guess is saying they dont' want to take the time to give the shot which WILL hurt of course... I've had one or two right near my eye for stitches a couple years ago. But a circ WITh pain meds is going to hurt less than without, although no circ is going to be completely pain-free. The excuse to just not use pain meds, therefore, is just lazy on the part of the doctors. Yes, it makes the tissues swell and yes that makes it more difficult to do the circ. But we know that babies experience pain more accutely than adults do, so I don't see why you wouldn't GET pain relief to begin with. In my line of thinking, though, I'd then wonder if I had to do it in the first place... which of course the answer is "no".

I'm tired. I gotta stop rambling. Frasier is on. Don't usually watch it, but its good to fall asleep to.
post #3 of 8
I've heard guys who got circ'd as adults say that it was sore from 4-6 weeks after the operation, starting off as seriously painful immediately after and getting gradually less sore as the weeks passed. However, babies are generally more sensitive to pain than adults plus they have the additional discomfort of an exposed and forcibly detached glans to deal with, so I'd guess 12 weeks or more before it's tolerable.
post #4 of 8
I'm curious if any of the pps have a son who is circ? My first son was cut and he cried everytime he peed or pooed, or even before he eliminated he would start to cry, in anticipation I assumed (though at the time I just though he didn't like being wet ). This lasted the first week, I think it still looked raw for the first two weeks. I don't remember noticing any discomfort past that point, though that was 3 years ago, and I didn't know about circ.

I don't know if we will ever really be able to tell without some sort of brain scans how long the pain actually lasts. From my personal past experience there was around a 2 week healing period, but of course my son couldn't tell me it was just sore, or a lot sore or a little sore, etc.

I think we also have to take into consideration that babies are very resiliant and possbly heal faster than adults (not just in reguards to circ, but any sort of surgery), after all they just went through birth. Just look what their little body just accomlished, YK? Plus, their brains are like a clean slate, and they can't really pull from past experiences to compare to the pain to, as where adults can. Sad when one of their first experiences with pain is circ.

I hope no one takes this post as pro-circ or anti-RIC pain, but this is how it seems to me. No matter how you look at it the pain is extreme (especially when the cir it's self is preformed with no pain meds and no meds are given after the procedure). Can anyone link the study where they had to stop studying pain during RIC because the study was considered inhumane?
post #5 of 8
Yeah, I think too that even after the initial really painful period, when it becomes just mild pain or discomfort, it may be difficult for a parent to recognize it for what it is. Even though they arnt in acute pain anymore, they still are uncomfortable and therefore are fussy. I honestly never could figure out why everyone seemed to complain about their babies crying all the time. I mean yeah, soemtimes a baby is just like that, girl or boy, but I noticed that most of the people complaining were parents of boys. Like when I had my own first, I was still in high school and in a teen pregnancy class with other pregnant teens. All of us but 1 had boys (must've been something in the school water, lol) and almost everyone complained. We never really discussed circumcision at all though, so I am not sure who circ'd and who didnt, but I didnt, I know my one friend didnt (she was so cool hippy type), and obviously the mom with the girl didnt and IIRC, we were the only ones who were like um, our babies arnt crying all the time?
Also, my friends boys were circ'd later (the twins when they were 8 weeks old, the new one at a week) and they all had dramatic changes in their personalities. They went from calm, happy babies for the most part, to constantly crying, to still crying a lot and being extremely clingy. They never went back to that happy baby state....while my kids have all kept that for the most part (yeah, they are still babies and have thier moments, but I am constantly getting compliments on how happy my babies are)
post #6 of 8
My first son, who is cut, was an extremly happy baby as well. He would cry when he needed his diaper changed, when he was hungry, or after he got his first two (and last) set of shots. Other than that he was happy and very easy. My second son is intact and made me realize what people were talking about when they said babies were hard. I have no doubt that circ does play a part, especially during the healing period, but not all babies cry for no apparent reason other than they are circ.

There was a post in the past on here about fussy babies when comparing circ vs intact. And the results were pretty random, though most if not all the mommys who had cut babies mentioned crying during elimination for odvious reasons.
post #7 of 8
Thread Starter 
My son is not circumcised he's intact my cousins are pg and all having boys so 3 boys will be coming into this world within 3 months . So since the dad to be is circumcised -more likely of a 'routine unknown' but one of them questioned me on the pain before and after so since I don't know of the after since I never dealt with the circumcision healing process I was thinking maybe someone who might have read a study on pain effects afterwards during the healing process or to get personal experience from those who did dealt with a circ'ed boy of to see if pain after peeing/pooping, sleepier, harder to sleep,etc since I know this place is a mix of parents with circ'ed son's with their intact son's .

I had saw one area that there was a statement by a nurse saying All the babies who got circumcised would cry at their diaper change, not like to be on their belly but one's who were left intact didn't do that just seeing if I could press accurate information on to 2 cousins that will be able to listen and they are more aware than the 'stubborn cousin.
post #8 of 8
You really should find that study, maybe someone could find the link? Anyways, in this study they circumcised some of the boys with pain meds and some without. They had to stop the study because the babies with out pain meds were reacting so strongy that it became unethical for them to study how much pain the unmedicated boys were going through during the circumcision. I have also heard about circ babies not liking to be on their tummies, but I never put DS#1 on his tummy until he was older because of the whole SIDS crap, so I don't have person experience with with.

I know someone has this information somewhere. Hopefully they can chime in and post.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Understanding Circumcision