The best sleeping position for your baby is on his side, supported by a blanket roll. 4) Healing is promoted by keeping the area clean and dry. Warm water and a cotton-ball or washcloth are preferred for cleaning the area around the penis.
To reduce the effect of night erections pulling on the stitches during the first few days, empty your bladder before retiring and a few times during the night. Do not lie on your back, but on your side. It may be helpful to draw your knees up a bit into a more foetal position.
It usually takes at least 10 days for your penis to heal after circumcision. You'll probably be advised to take at least 1 week off work to recover.
Pat the cut (incision) dry. You may also take short baths if you wish. Avoid strenuous activities, such as bicycle riding, jogging, weight lifting, or aerobic exercise, for 4 weeks or until your doctor says it is okay. You can return to work and normal activities, including driving, when you are comfortable doing them.
Circumcision (SIR-come-siz-yun) is a surgery to remove the skin that covers the end of the penis. Your child's surgery will be done under general anesthesia (an-es-THEEZ-ya), which means that he will be sound asleep during the surgery, will feel no pain and will have no memory of it.
You will want to avoid putting pressure on the circumcised penis in the first few days. 3) Most babies sleep quite well following the circumcision. The best sleeping position for your baby is on his side, supported by a blanket roll. 4) Healing is promoted by keeping the area clean and dry.
You should remain relatively inactive the first 72 hours following surgery. We do encourage walking around for a few minutes every two hours to maintain good circulation, but otherwise, no activity.
Bathing. It's best to avoid full-body bathing until the second day after surgery, but sponge baths are fine. After the second day, you can shower or bathe as normal, but don't scrub the incision site — just let the soapy warm water run over the incision and pat it dry.
The area should be kept dry for 48 hours after the operation. After this, take warm baths or showers once or twice a day. Don't use bubble bath or scented soaps, as these may irritate your healing wound. Leave the penis to dry naturally after having a bath or shower.
This pain often gets better in 3 or 4 days. But it may last for up to 2 weeks. Even though your baby's penis will likely start to feel better after 3 or 4 days, it may look worse. The penis often starts to look like it's getting better after about 7 to 10 days.
Normal Circumcision Healing
The incision starts off red and tender. The tenderness should be much less by day 3. The scab at the incision line comes off in 7 to 10 days.
You will continue to get erections as normal after the procedure but you should refrain from any sexual activity (intercourse or masturbation) for four weeks. When you first get erections, you may feel some tightness around the scar tissue; this will regain its normal elasticity within a few months.
You can shower 24 hours after the operation but do not bath until the wound is healed. Do not soak or scrub the wound whilst showering, gently blot the area to dry it using a soft towel.
After 24 hours, your son may bathe or shower. Don't rub the area, but squeeze water from the washcloth over the site. Do not wash off the white or yellow colored drainage that is a normal part of the healing process. It will go away as the circumcision heals.
Urine will not hurt the circumcision and should not cause pain since surgery was not performed on the area where the urine comes out. Urine is sterile and does not cause infections. It is not unusual to see a small amount of bleeding from the incision for the first day or two.
After the anaesthetic, your child can start eating a light diet such as sandwiches, pasta, soup or jelly. Avoid fatty or junk food.
A person should wear loose-fitting clothing for the first few days after the procedure and refrain from any sexual activity for 4 weeks.
The wound is dressed with paraffin impregnated gauze. Dry gauze is folded along its longest dimension and wrapped over the paraffin impregnated gauze (Figs 1 and 2). A condom is worn over the penis to hold the dressing in place.
Constipation is common after surgery. Anesthesia and pain medicine (Roxicet) can contribute to constipation. Give your child plenty of clear liquids after surgery. Call the office if you child goes longer than 48 hours without a bowel movement.
If, however, your son has a bowel movement and stool gets on the penis, you may briefly rinse him off in the tub. Once the ring falls off, you may resume his regular bath routine. Spotting of blood in the diaper is normal immediately following the procedure.
Avoid wearing tight clothing for the first few days, cotton underwear and jogging bottoms are best. Avoid any strenuous activities until all the swelling, bruising and discomfort have disappeared.
At first, the penis will appear red (picture 4). In a few days, a soft yellow scab will develop. This is normal and will go away in a few days. During this process, parents should watch for worsening redness, swelling, bleeding (larger than a quarter-size on the diaper) or drainage that does not go away.
Circumcision, whereby the foreskin is removed from the penis, can cause the urethral opening to narrow, making it difficult to urinate. The condition is called meatal stenosis and the risk of developing it is 16-26 times higher in circumcised than intact boys under the age of ten.
These findings suggest that it is better to perform circumcision when boys are < 1 year old, when the anesthesia complications are also at a minimum. A longer hospitalization is associated with an increased risk of infection as well as increased costs (24).