Physician Mohel: Circumcision Under Local Anesthesia and the Benefits for Babies and Parents

The advantages are clear

One of the greatest advantages of a physician mohel, a doctor who also performs ritual circumcision, over a regular mohel who is not a doctor is the ability to use local anesthetics. This spares your baby considerable suffering, and sensation effectively returns to the area only after the pain has already passed.

A physician mohel is a fully qualified doctor who has also been certified as a mohel. This is someone who regularly practices in a medical field and, out of a sense of mission and religious duty, has decided to become a mohel as well.

In fact, this is exactly the person you would want to perform your son's circumcision. A physician mohel knows how to perform it as quickly, professionally, and with as little pain for the baby as possible.

The newborn's suffering

We have all attended circumcision ceremonies where the baby did not stop crying for a moment. There is great stress, loud noise, many people at once, and, of course, a very painful procedure. It is a surgical procedure in every sense, one an adult could not endure without anesthesia. Why, then, should we cause a baby suffering and force him through such a painful procedure? The baby cannot tell us how much it hurts. He can only cry. Anyone who has attended these ceremonies knows how much babies cry.

Medical anesthetics

A physician mohel is the only person permitted to use local anesthetics. Depending on the circumstances, the physician mohel will decide whether to administer the anesthetic to the circumcision site by injection or with a numbing cream. Each case is considered individually.

Once local anesthesia has been administered, the circumcision can proceed without concern that suffering or pain is being caused to the baby. The baby may still cry, but that will be because of the commotion, the frightening situation, unfamiliar people, and the many movements he experiences. This is a completely different kind of crying: crying from alarm, not pain.

Pain-free recovery

Recovery from circumcision is also much faster when pain is not part of it. Think about it: ultimately, the baby barely feels what has been done to his organ. He will experience tenderness in the area, but not the same trauma of the sharp pain he would experience without anesthesia.

This is general news information and is not a substitute for personal advice from a doctor or dietitian.