"I had my baby boy circumcised here"

Although only the minority of baby boys born in the UK are circumcised, I wanted my son circumcised when he was born mainly for long term health and hygiene reasons.

When I was exoecting my son, I discussed my circumcision preferences with my gp and unfortunately received a rather judgemental lecture at to why it wouldn't be necessary. I ignored this and started to ask around for advice on places to go, as in this country, baby boys are not circumcised on the NHS unless medically required.

We were recommended the Cromwell Hospital by some American friends of ours who had had their son circumcised there. When it was time to book my son to have his done, the staff at the Cromwell were amazing. Far from making me feel guilty about it, they were totally non-judgemental and very reassuring about the important decision I was making for my son.

It took about a week to get a one-off appointment in outpatients which lasted about an hour. It involved a consultation with the surgeon himself who answered my numerous anxious mum questions, which was immediately followed by a 10 minute procedure in which my son was given a local anaesthetic and then his foreskin was removed and a small piece of gauze wrapped around his penis. After a comfort feed we were free to go home and were given detailed aftercare instructions, which we followed carefully.

After about a week, my son's circumcision was completely healed and looked very good.

At the tiime it seemed like a big irreversible step to take for my son, but now I look back, the staff at the Cromwell were great, and I am very pleased that I got my son circumcised here. If he has any little brotbers in the future, I will be back!