THE FACTS ON FORESKIN.
Want to confuse a bunch of otherwise intelligent, well-informed mothers? Just mention foreskins.
While the debate about circumcision snips on, there is little discussion around what to do with the extra flap of skin that around 80 per cent of boy babies now carry; the foreskin.
Adding to the confusion is that most women of parenting age are from a generation where the statistics pushed the other way, with fathers, brothers, lovers and husbands all circumcised.
"I didn't know anything about normal foreskin development before having a boy," says Nichola, mum to two boys.
"I expected the foreskin would pull back fully and was surprised that it was attached. When my son was two or three I asked my GP about his foreskin as it was still attached and I was concerned that this was not normal.
He assured me it was and that the foreskin would detach over time with "use".
"I was confused because at no time did I hear about this information - not from the midwife, the paediatrician or the child health nurse. No-one discussed it with me."
Paediatric Urologist at Brisbane's Mater Children's Dr David Winkle says there "is absolutely confusion", with what constitutes normal foreskin development obfuscated by the ongoing circumcision dispute. It's a minefield," he says.
"Advocates of circumcision have created a perception that if a boy doesn't have a prepuce, or foreskin, which is fully retractile, then that is abnormal and justifies circumcision.
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