Pain Relief for Circumcising?

Question

I've been told that they don't provide any pain relief for the baby during circumcision. Surely they numb it at least. I can't stand to think how painful that must be without any relief. If you had your baby boy circumcised did they get any pain relief?

Answer 1

They put a clear ointment that is supposed to numb the area before the procedure. It broke my heart to change his diapers after that, seeing how red he was there.  The benefits of circumsition do outweigh the risks in my opinion. They don't remember it, and it does heal quickly.

Answer 2

Yes, my son was circumcised and they did numb the area with a Novocaine like substance.  He never cried after the fact from the procedure.  It was quick and easy - I highly recommend having a circumcision done... you can ask the doctor to numb the area or find a doctor who does.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Most doctors still don't use any anesthesia, those that do rarely offer adequate anesthesia because the only stuff that works is not safe enough to use in infants for such a "minor" procedure. Further, some of the pain meds offered to infants aren't even reccomended for use on babies! Some doctors argue that it has been done "for thousands of years" without anesthetic- what they neglect to tell you is that a medical circumcision can take over 15 minutes to complete. A Jewish ritual circumcision, by contrast, takes under 60 seconds to complete (and the baby is given wine) Here is some info on the pain.....

http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/

http://www.circumcision.org/response.htm

http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/taddio2... (note in this one that even infants offered pain meds for the procedure showed signs of post traumatic stress!)

Types of pain relief offered by some doctors-

Sugar Water/Grape Juice (doesn't work)

EMLA Cream- this numbs the outside of the skin some, but does nothing for the pain that comes from forcibly ripping the f******n free of the head. Also it takes at least 15 minutes to take effect, doctors do not always give it time to work. Further, it is NOT approved for use in young infants

Dorsal Nerve Block- this is given by a needle to the base of the p***s. It is somewhat effective, though not entirely. Parent;s worry that the needle hurts, Doctors worry that it can cause swelling, which makes the operation more difficult (its already a very small area)

Penile Ring Block- also given by needle, several injections are needed around the base of the p***s. Works better than a dorsal nerve block, same pain swelling concerns.

I have seen one instance of a doctor offering a combination of all three pain control methods (sugar, EMLA, injection) This is probably the most complete pain relief available (short of general anesthesia), but it is HIGHLY unusual. By all acounts, American doctors most often offer no anesthesia. When they do, it is normally only one form, and generally either sugar or cream.

My mother is a pediatrician- we've discussed this, she thinks painkillers are unnessecary, and she's pretty progressive as far as doctors go. Up until the 80's it was widely believed by doctors that Baby's felt NO pain at all- they even did open heart surgery with no pain relief. It has only changed because of public outcry. Even today, the general feeling among doctors, especially the older generation, is that pain relief is unnessecary for newborns, despite plenty of research to the contrary. -Neb

Answer 4

my son is 4 months old and we did not have him circumcised at the hospital after i had him but we had to take him to the dr when he was 3 days old because they let us go home so early. my husband was in there with him when they did it and the dr told me that they were going 2 numb it 1st & they gave him 2shots one on each side of his testicals and waited 15 mins for it to numb and after it was done he was fussy for a couple of days and i had to be gentle when i wiped him and make sure i cleaned it good with the wipe and it he got poopy on it i was told to use plain warm water to clean it but he was fine after the first couple days and the ring came off when he was 2 weeks old and at the dr for his 2 week check up when the dr looked 2 see if it was healing okay and the dr said that it looked just fine. I hope that helped

Answer 5

Why not just skip it?  Then you don't have to worry about causing your sweet baby unnecessary pain.  No matter what you hear, there is NO good reason to do it.  All the reasons people give are either outdated/disproven or are blown WAY out of proportion.  

To answer your question, most of the time they are not given adequate pain relief.  Studies have been done that show that only 50% are given any pain relief at all, and only 5% are given enough to actually work.  And they are never given anything for the pain afterwards.

Sugar water is the most common thing and for obvious reasons that's not going to do much of anything.

EMLA cream is the next most common, and that does a decent job of numbing the outer skin only.  It does nothing for the head of the p***s or the inner f******n, which has to be torn away from the head (this feels roughly like separating your finger nails from your finger) and then clamped, crushed and cut.  Also, EMLA cream is *not* approved for use in infants.

Injected pain blocks are best, but are not that common.  And they do nothing for the pain the baby has after the procedure is done - sometimes for weeks afterward.

None of this changes the fact that it's a totally unnecessary thing to do in the first place.  Again, I'd highly recommend you just don't do it.  Leave the choice to him when he's old enough to make it.

Answer 6

Not all doctors numb the area, so you do need to ask. Another great way to go is to have a Jewish mohel do it. It will be more expensive, but the circumcision will look better and heal faster and there is no plastic left on the p***s. My son was healed all up in 72 hours. The mohel used a lidocaine like substance to numb the area and my son never even fussed!

Answer 7

I just wanted to say that the cream (EMLA) is supposed to be applied 60-90 minutes before the circumcision.  Most of the time, it's put on just a few minutes beforehand.  Poor babies.

Answer 8

Why would you want to cut off part of your son and cause so much pain?