For nearly 3,000 years Jews have circumcised baby boys on the 8th day.  Did the rabbis of that time in their wisdom know more than those hospital obs who insisted on circumcising within the first two or three days after the birth?
In a modern hospital, a routine intervention in the form of Vitamin K. is given to newborn babies.  There have been critics of this routine but parents are persuaded to agree because the baby`s blood-clotting mechanism does not fully develop until the end of the first seven days.
Does nobody make the connection?
If baby`s blood does not clot effectively, circumcision before the 8th day will radically increase the risk of haemorrhage.
The 8th day is the very earliest that Jewish boys are circumcised. If the baby is premature or jaundiced, this will be postponed.

Wendy Blumfield
NCT BFC/ANT Tutor
Israel Childbirth Education Centre

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