Circumcision Care for Your Newborn
Author: Dr. Anna Kaplan
If your baby had a circumcision in the hospital, you will get instructions on how to take care of the area. There are some differences, depending which procedure was used.
If an obstetrician or family doctor delivers the baby, they will usually do the circumcision before you take the baby home. Sometimes, a pediatrician will do the procedure a few days later. If you are Jewish, a mohel will do the circumcision after 8 days, according to religious practice.
The baby should be given anesthesia by a doctor. This can be topical, where it's left on for a period of time all over the area in order to cause numbing. Or it can be local injections at the base of the penis, which cause very little discomfort and are very effective at preventing the pain of the circumcision.
Most methods involve a protective device, which is placed over the glans of the penis to protect it. The foreskin is pulled over and above the tip of the penis. It is separated from the penis, split, and peeled back so that it does not cover the glans. The foreskin may be tightly tied around the underlying base to stop any bleeding, and the excess is removed.
In one case, the device is called a Plastibell, which is a small plastic piece that is put over the glans, but allows for urination. The Plastibell will go home with you and the baby, and will fall off within a week. You will then see either a red or yellow circular site that is healing.
In other cases, the protective device is metal and is removed after the procedure. Sometimes, small moist dressings are used around the area.
Whatever device is used, the doctor or assisting nurse should explain how to care for the circumcision site. When changing the baby's diaper for the first week, you should be putting a protective lubricant on the area of the circumcision, and sometimes dressings will be advised. You will watch the area heal. It will be swollen at first and will eventually form a scab, like most wounds. The scab is usually yellow, but does not drain fluid. It usually takes about a week for the scab to fall off and the wound to heal.
If you see increasing redness, especially beyond the circumcision site and on the penis, or if the area is draining pus, call the doctor. It is rare, but the circumcision site can become infected, and those are some of the signs of infection you might see.
During this week, especially if you have the procedure done in the hospital, you are only going to be sponge bathing the baby, as the umbilical cord will still be attached. You should not be putting the baby into even a little water to bathe until the umbilical cord falls off and the circumcision site heals.
If you have this procedure done by a mohel on day 8, you should also get instructions. Mohels have their own procedures, which are much quicker and do not involve anesthetic or many of the instruments doctors use. They are very efficient, and it is over in perhaps a minute. Care after this should be similar to what you would do had a doctor performed the surgery.
Regardless of which procedure is done, or who does it, the wound care is very minimal, and the surgical site heals very quickly.
