Kathleen Bruce, forgive me!
The discussion on circumcision as it may relate to BF has been edifying to
one who lives in a non-circumcising culture.
One of our former pediatricians, known for his near-total lack of sense of
humor, broke his serious facade some years back to tell me what Norwegian
pediatricians called the US tradition-- 'oh yeah, that American screening
test for hemophilia'.
He did so without cracking a smile.

Here, we have two OBs who do them, reluctantly.  One was trained in the US
and hence her expertise.  They are done in the OR using local anesthetic and
a plastibell, but I know of other wards where they are done in the nursery.
Any distress caused to the babies is equalled by the distress of midwifery
staff caring for them, as this is a very foreign practice to Norwegians.
Babies who are circumcised usually come from communities where long term BF
is the norm and they at least seem to sort THAT out all right.

...now I'll try to stay away from this subject!
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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