I am not an advocate of male or female circumcision other than for medical
reasons.

I do believe that severe pain at any age or from any condition is a
disincentive to feeding and may interfere with breastfeeding initiation.  I
therefore advise adequate pain relief for infants when parents decide on
male circumcision.

It should, however, be public knowledge that there is no need for infants to
suffer excessively from the pain of this surgical procedure.
Analgesia/anaesthesia for circumcision has been studied by numerous authors.
I know of institutions that insist on local anaesthesia (usually dorsal
penile block) for all boys requiring circumcision in the neonatal period.
The circumcision can then be done painlessly.  Infants (actually males of
any age) should receive post-operative analgesia for this procedure which
will be exquisitely painful when the anaesthesia wears off:  I would
routinely advise acetaminophen every 4 hours for 24-48 hours after surgery.

Children in hospital should not be unnecessarily exposed to avoidable pain.
This is no exception.

Khalid

Khalid Aziz
Memorial University of Newfoundland