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Newborn Circumcision

A Parent's Guide to Proper Care

By Mary Dixon Lebeau

When the Infanti triplets – Ethan Steele, Cole Sterling and Dominic Fortune – were 3 weeks old, they had their first surgery, an outpatient procedure. They were circumcised.

"After spending two weeks in the NICU at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center, they were discharged," says their father, Steve Infanti, director of public relations for the university's Smeal College of Business. "The NICU surgeons do not perform these due to the more pressing major surgeries that they have to do each day on infants."

So the procedure – completed with the use of a local anesthetic – was done on an outpatient basis at Centre County Community College in State College, Pa.

Having to care for not one, but three, little boys forced Steve and his wife, Catherine, a special education teacher, to quickly become experts at the care of circumcision. "Basically, we were told to apply the ointment and to cover with a gauze bandage each time we change a diaper," Infanti says. "Since we were new to parenting, I had the nurse demonstrate on my little finger, just to get the idea."

And how did their sons react to the operation? "They were very fussy for the first 24 hours after the event," Infanti says. "We believe some of that was because of the surgery. However, these are babies that hate being naked – something I hope continues in their teenage dating years – and it was taking us longer to change their diapers."

The Infantis also experienced an unexpected complication when it came to caring for the triplets' circumcisions. "The lads, like most baby boys, tend to want to urinate once their little penises are exposed to air," Infanti says. "Normally, we could cover that with a cloth but we didn't immediately following the circumcision. That just added more drama to changing time."

The challenge of triplets notwithstanding, the care of a baby's circumcision doesn't have to be high drama for moms and dads. A simple procedure, circumcision is the surgical removal of the sleeve of skin and mucosal tissue that normally covers the head (glans) of the penis. This double layer of skin is known as the prepuce, or foreskin, and is usually removed for religious or cultural reasons, although there are some medical grounds for the procedure as well, including the reduction of urinary tract infections. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), however, states that the benefits of circumcision are not significant enough for the AAP to recommend it as a routine procedure.

Want to see more?

• The First Year: Birth to 3 Months
• AAP Issues New Circumcision Recommendations
• Newborn Cord Care
• Talk About It!