The recent blizzard forced me to stay home from work for two days (!) because
the subways in Brooklyn weren't running! So I had the time to straighten out
my home office, and I came across a clipping from the New York Times.
Unfortunately, I don't have the date of the issue this particular Jane Brody
column appeared in. She reported on Dr. Fred Howard's study at Rochester
General Hospital;the researchers found that although acetominophen didn't
help the pain during and right after circumcision, it did "help the infants
cope with the lingering pain of circumcision several hours after the
procedure. "
I think it's been posted here before by one of my esteemed colleagues that in
the ceremony of "brit milah" (ritual circumcision) the infant is given some
wine to suck from a gauze pad.  A good friend who had a home birth and a
"home brit" breastfed her baby until right before the ceremony and right
after. He was pretty calm about it, all things considered!
BTW, this is the Dr. Fred Howard who co-authored (with Dr. Cynthia Howard and
Dr. Michael Weitzman) the Clinical Commentary in "Obstetrics and Gynecology"
Vol. 81, No. 6 , June 1993 : "The Physician as Advertiser: the Unintentional
Discouragement of Breastfeeding" and "Infant FormulaDistribution and
Advertising in Pregnancy: A Hospital Survey"(same co-authors, BIRTH, 21:1,
March 1994) quoting from the abstract: "The continued participation of
prenatal caregivers in promotion efforts of formula companies provides a
negative or mixed message about the importance of breastfeeding and may be a
barrier to its success."
Hmm.
Pearl Shifer, M.Ed., IBCLC