Circumcision

Painful for Babies?

Circumcision – surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis – without anesthesia causes severe pain and an increased risk of choking and breathing difficulties, according to a recent study by the University of Alberta in Edmonton published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 1997;278:2157-2162). Researchers found circumcision to be so traumatic that they ended the study earlier than planned so as not to put any more babies through the procedure without anesthesia.

Researchers reported that as many as 96 percent of circumcised babies in the United States and Canada receive no anesthesia during the procedure. The study found that one of the reasons anesthesia is not used is the false belief that infants feel little or no pain from circumcision, and that injecting anesthesia can be as painful as circumcision itself. Further, it has been said that infants don't remember the procedure, anyway.

Edmonton researchers studied the heart rates and crying patterns of babies during different stages of circumcision. Some babies were given an anesthetic while others were not. They found that topical anesthetics help initially, but are not strong enough during the foreskin separation and incision process. They concluded that circumcision should be preceded by an injected anesthetic, if it needs to be performed at all.