February 06, 2020

Circumcision: The Untold American Story

February 06, 2020/ Max Fairshield

The United States needs to protect the rights and decisions of the individual and not allow parents to treat children as objects. Cutting healthy body parts off is not parenting, and it’s not medicine — it’s mutilation. There is no reason not to wait and let children decide what they want when they have matured. Most of the rest of the world understands and respects children’s right to a natural and whole body. Why is it so hard for the U.S. to understand that?

January 30, 2020

'He Slept Right Through It.' They Lied to Me.

January 30, 2020/ Chelsea Fields

When they handed him to me after circumcision, my heart dropped. He didn't have the same sweet expression on his face anymore. No, now he was red, he looked exhausted and sad. What did I do to him? I tried to nurse him, but he couldn't. He had fought too hard. So I went to change his tiny newborn diaper for the very first time and nothing could have ever prepared me for what followed.

January 28, 2020

From Finland: Circumcised Sex Hurts!

January 28, 2020/ Your Whole Baby Team

I was very sad to see he didn't have his foreskin, which is absolutely the best part! I had no idea how I could please him. It was too difficult without the foreskin, and I kept thinking his penis felt incomplete. He was so rough that it almost hurt. I guess the roughness was due to the fact that he had lost so much sensitivity. Each time we had sex this happened. With intact partners, I have never experienced pain during sex. I did not want to have sex with him anymore, and eventually I did not want to see him anymore. I knew I couldn't be in a relationship like this.

January 14, 2020

5 Myths About Intact Penis Care You Might Believe

January 14, 2020/ Katie Ward

Myth #1: You need to pull it back to clean. The idea that parents should be attempting to pull back the foreskins of their children is a dangerously pervasive myth. Why? The foreskin of a child’s penis is typically fused to the head of their penis by a protective membrane (you can think of it as the penile version of a hymen). This membrane doesn’t dissolve until an average age of 10 years. Trying to pull the foreskin back before the membrane is gone can result in pain and trauma, bleeding, scarring, and sometimes paraphimosis, a medical emergency.

December 30, 2019

Intersex Resources

December 30, 2019/ Your Whole Baby Team

All children deserve protection from genital cutting and other forms of nonconsensual body modifications. This includes children born with atypical sex characteristics (often referred to as intersex). Learn more…

December 29, 2019

My Parents Gave Their Consent — Circumcision Rage & Grief

December 29, 2019/ Noel

A profound sense of loss will always be with me. I consider my circumcision fully responsible for causing my anxiety disorder…My loss of sensitivity after age 40 is an emphatic fact that cannot be argued. I still think I got off lucky compared to those who had even more penile skin taken, or worse. Some lose the whole body part. Some get infected. Some infants die from this cosmetic procedure.

November 24, 2019

Circumcision After Home Birth?

November 24, 2019/ Larissa Black

Should I circumcise after birthing at home? You’ve spent time learning about unnecessary birth interventions like episiotomies, premature cord clamping, and immediate bathing; avoiding risks associated with these practices is high on your list for protecting your and your baby’s physical and emotional safety. Learn how circumcising fits in, or doesn’t, when you’re planning your birth outside the hospital.

November 18, 2019

Parents' Heartbreaking Stories of Breastfeeding After Circumcision

November 18, 2019/ Your Whole Baby Team

One completely avoidable obstacle that often stands in the way of new baby bliss — and feeding success in particular — is circumcision. Individual babies can react differently to the trauma of genital surgery. Many have problems in the hours, days, and even months afterward, and these problems have the potential to derail a nursing relationship.

November 05, 2019

White People: Do Your Part to Protect Babies AND Fight Racism

November 05, 2019/ Your Whole Baby Team

There’s a legacy of white control over Black bodies in the United States — a collective historical trauma. Your Whole Baby asks white genital autonomy advocates to please be mindful of this reality, and use these “do’s” and “don’ts” when communicating with Black families.

November 04, 2019

"It's like going from seeing in color to seeing in black and white" — Circumcised as an Adult

November 04, 2019/ Jose Orozco

I was intact for the first 15 years of my life, during two of which I was sexually active. I used to have so much sensation, performing four to five times a day. At 17 years old, just a couple of years after being circumcised*, it lessened to once a day. Then, at 20, I started having trouble getting or sustaining an erection. I was diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. It wasn't until I had my second son in my late 20s that I started to look into the effects of circumcision and began to realize why I was having so many issues. Around age 30, I decided to give restoration a try.

October 28, 2019

The Nose Job: A Modern Fable for Boy Parents

October 28, 2019/ Mandi Woolery

I took my newborn in for a nose job . . . and his pediatrician flipped out on me. Can you believe it?!

I told her that his nose looked different than my husband’s, and I’d like them to look the same. This should avoid any awkward questions when he’s older. The doc looked at me like I was insane and told me that was no reason to perform elective surgery on a neonate.

I told her that the girls would probably like him better when he started dating if he had a nose job…

July 01, 2019

Shouldn't They Match? Help For Parents With Circumcised Kid(s) Facing The Decision Again

July 01, 2019/ Your Whole Baby Team

Let’s set the scene. You have one or more children who were circumcised before you questioned the procedure. Maybe you regret putting them through that pain and/or have started to feel badly about doing it at all. You’re jumping in feet first to learn more and arm yourself with information. Now you’re pregnant and you have to make the decision again. Suddenly, a question creeps into your inner dialog from the recesses of your mind: Won’t this child feel left out? Maybe I should circumcise this one too since it’s the ‘norm’ for our family…

June 29, 2019

She Came THIS Close to Circumcising her Son...

June 29, 2019/ Trish

The first thing I said to my husband was, “If it is a boy I don’t want him circumcised and if it is a girl she can’t get her ears pierced until she asks for them after she starts elementary school.” My husband was fine with the ear piercing but thought if we had a son he should be circumcised. His reasoning was primarily that since he was, so should his son be, and because he felt his son would get made fun of if he stayed whole.

June 28, 2018

An Italian Perspective on Circumcision

June 28, 2018/ Francesco

We don’t have many circumcised people, maybe 1 or 2 percent, and mostly for medical reasons. No partner has ever turned me down for sex due to the appearance of my genitals.

Reading about circumcised genitals made me understand that I was quite lucky with my sexual life. I totally don’t need lubricant. It’s optional; if I want I can use it, but there’s little difference for me. I never keep any lube on hand because is not something I need. If I ever have a son I would never consider circumcision . . .

The Blog @ Your Whole Baby

There’s a legacy of white control over Black bodies in the United States — a collective historical trauma. Your Whole Baby asks white genital autonomy advocates to please be mindful of this reality, and use these “do’s” and “don’ts” when communicating with Black families.

Your Whole Baby