Just watched a video demonstrating circumsision...

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Oh my god that was horrible! That poor baby is just crying it heart out for the pain to stop and it just continues..... my god that is just awful to do to a child!

Babies also cry their heart out when they're given a bath or having their diaper changed.

the dumb ass doing it probably didnt use any anethesia (sp). And youd cry too if someone circumcised you Age wouldnt matter

There is good medical evidence that cicumcision in infants causes pain: CIRP (with footnoted references):In reply to:Before the late nineteenth century, medical doctors understood that infants feel pain.1 Then, in 1872, Paul Emil Flechsig advanced the idea that infants could not feel pain because "their nerves are not completely myelinated."1 Incredibly, this idea caught on, and all sorts of operations---including open heart surgery---were carried out on infants without anesthesia for many years.The scientific study of neonatal pain, appearing in the literature from circa 1970, began to say that newborns experienced "stress" from neonatal circumcision.2,3,4,5 Until then, however, the medical orthodoxy (amazingly) seemingly still did not believe that newborns could actually feel pain.. . .The definitive study of the human neonatal pain sensory mechanism was published by Anand and Hickey in the New England Journal of Medicine in November 1987.17 They wrote: "Numerous lines of evidence suggest that even in the human fetus, pain pathways as well as cortical and subcortical centers necessary for pain perception are well developed late in gestation, and the neurochemical systems now known to be associated with pain transmission are intact and functional....Other responses in newborn infants are suggestive of integrated emotional and behavioral responses to pain and are retained in memory long enough to modify subsequent behavior patterns....[I]n decisions about the use of these techniques, current knowledge suggests that humane considerations should apply as forcefully to the care of neonates and young nonverbal infants as they do to children and adults in similar painful and stressful situations." The evidence that neonates feel pain and suffer as much or more than do older children and adults is conclusive and generally accepted today.. . .HSC study (Dr. Gideon KorenIn reply to:"This study demonstrates two important findings," says Dr. Koren. "It shows that infants do in fact feel pain, and that their pain is not short-lived, as previously thought. Consequently, adequate pain relief should be routinely used during circumcision and any other medical and surgical procedures where pain is possible."The American Society for Pain Management Nursing:In reply to:ASPMN recognizes that neonatal circumcision is a painful procedure. The Society recognizes that the neonate has a right to an anesthetic to prevent the pain of theprocedure. Therefore, as healthcare providers, we are obligated to provide anappropriate anesthetic for neonatal circumcision.

Yes, and those who downplay the painful effect upon the child of genital mutilation should themselves be genitally mutilated. And I include all mothers in this dictum. I've never understood how a mother can be so cruel and unfeeling as to mutilate a newborn child. Perhaps they lack normal maternal instincts, or perhaps they do it in retaliation for the pain of childbirth. Whatever the reason, they are guilty, guilty, guilty, and they should be prosecuted for sexual child abuse. Korydon

I agree. Anyone who thinks babies don't feel pain, and circumcision doesn't hurt them, is extremely ignorant on how the human body works. It's been proven that babies can feel things and they can definitely feel pain. It's not a matter of opinion or interpretation - its a medical fact. I think the whole procedure of infant circumcision especially without anesthesia is sick, barbaric, and stupid. And I cringe when I hear some insurance companies still pay for the procedure - that is beyond idiotic.

Genitally mutilating a helpless infant WITH the use a so-called painkiller is equally unconscionable. If an adult wishes to mutilate his body, that's one thing, but harming a child is criminal sexual sexual abuse. The procedure has absolutely no place in a civilized society.Korydon

The baby was crying so hard, certain times his voice would go out. It was horrible.

Yes, that video is very hard to watch but yu should know it like 25 years old or somthin. If you want to see how its done without any pain:
http://www.pollockclinics.com/circumcision/circumcision-video.html
The boy here gets several kinds of pain relief and barely feels the cut.

Here's a list of complications from the same Web site.What types of pain killers are known to be safe for very young infants?

Well I've been present for two and neither baby let out a cry.

"Well I've been present for two and neither baby let out a cry."

That's interesting, how did this happen?
I'm sure someone here with tell you the kids were unconscienous from the pain.

just watched the video and have to say it made me feel ill. how the hell can anyone do that to their baby? and people do that because of how it looks???? it's sad.

Well I've been present for two and neither baby let out a cry.That doesn't prove that they didn't feel pain...or that other infants wouldn't under the same circumstances.

No it doesn't, I was just stating that the two babies didn't cry. My mother's side is Jewish so that is how I witnessed it, for the poster that asked.

My dear Amanda. Have you ever heard of the medical expression: "going into shock"? It means the collapse of circulatory function caused by severe injury and blood loss, and it is charactrized by pallor, sweating, weak pulse, and very low blood pressure. In the case of a child, his vital responses become profoundly depressed from the excruciating nature and pain of the wound, the hemmorage, and the crushing blow to his system. When we demonstrate empathy for the child, and put ourselves in his place, we begin to understand how extreme distress might be masked. But this doesn't excuse the assault upon another person. We have only to take a knife or a pin to ourselves in an effort to remove a sliver in order to imagine how much more painful it might be to have part of our body ripped and sliced away.The Jewish tradition is to genitally mutilate helpless infants, evidently, as adult Jewish males apparently have too little religious conviction to submit themselves to the procedure, as adults. It says a great deal about the fragility of a belief, when a religion must force itself upon a helpless child in the form of genital mutilation. Paul, for one, saw clearly how little outward forms of expression mean without inner conviction and belief. Perhaps you might inquire of your mother's family pecisely what a newborn baby knows about religious faith. I, for one, would be most interested in discovering the truth, though it seems that if we cannot ask the child, himself, how would anyone else presume to know? Korydon

Hey Amanda, didn't I tell you someone would tell you the baby was unconscious from the pain? hahaha!

Korydon.. you know I have a serious problem reading your posts now because all I seem to read is that darn word Mutilation. Look up the word friend, doesn't fit (Unless you're truely trying to be dramatic).Also, a child can feel pain, that's just common sense. BUT they do numb the area and at the time of circumcision the child doesn't feel anything.. not saying after it wears off that there is not discomfort. BUT also because of the childs age he will soon forget what happened and the pain, simple why (generally) circumcision is done at such a young age.And similar to Amanda I have witnessed two circumcisions, both my brothers who are MUCH younger than I am and they didn't make a sound, nor did the "Go into shock". Sure later for the next two weeks or so their little peepers (AKA Penises lol) were tender and sore, but rarely made any fisses over it.

BUT also because of the childs age he will soon forget what happened and the pain, simple why (generally) circumcision is done at such a young age.Did you just skip over the fourth post in this thread, where I point to medical research that contradicts what you say? Or are you going by your personal memory of the circumcision, amd through induction, assuming that it applies to everyone?Here's an article from a Web site you might not like, but it's an article that appeared in Midwifery Today (1991).

Did they use a mild, short-lasting local anasthetic on the skin for that?Some people can't (consciously) remember what they had for breakfast.