Pat Young says

<Personally I
sort of go for the ob in the US, s/he's the one who circs the boys and
could check their frenula, plus s/he could just check little girls'
mouths
too and see who needs a snip in the first 24 hours. Snip, snip, what's
the
big deal? >

There was a time in the not too distant past when there were  mostly
"general practitioners" doing deliveries, circs, frenulum clippings and
general health care management of mothers and children. Hospitals
sterilized circ sets with a grooved director as one of the instruments.

This was for placing  around both sides of the frenulum to elevate the
tongue. The doctor who was waiting to observe the circ for bleeding,
spent that 30 seconds clipping the frenulum below the protection of the
grooved director if he thought it necessary. (Not many 'she' physicians
back then.)

I seem to remember when obstetric and pediatric specialties took over
much of that care, that routine tongue clipping ended because of some
sort of mini-turf war at the national organizational level, because the
pediatricians disapproved. Mind you, they did not want to take over circ
duty. They just wanted OB's to stop clipping their patients' tongues. In
fact, this was about the time when better informed choice about circs
began to reduce the % of boys who were circed.

I suppose that changed the standard of practice and raised the
medicolegal stakes. OB's must have felt they had enough malpractice
insurance premiums as it was.

Do any of the pediatricians on the list know the history of the demise of
the routine frenulum clipping (at least of the boys) by the circumcising
doctor (OB or FP)?

My own frenulum was clipped as an infant nearly 7 decades ago. It must
have been so routine that I don't even remember my family mentioning it,
but you can tell by looking at it. My tongue has been wagging ever since!

K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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