Pain Relief Programme

Pain relief for baby circumcisions done using a local anaesthetic:

This is an important aspect in the care of your baby boy.

We have given this aspect a careful thought and planning. We have also audited our results with the use of local anaesthetic along with non nutritive sucking as an useful adjunct.

The base of the penis from where the nerve supply enters the penis is covered all around with Lignocaine gel. This is left in contact with the skin for about 20 – 25 minutes with the help of opsite dressing.

Once we are ready for the procedure we take the baby into the operating room (parents are not allowed into the aseptic environment). After thorough cleansing a local anaesthetic 2.5mg/ml Chirocaine 0.8 ml/kg is injected as an infiltration through the numbed skin. This minimises the pain from the injection site which your baby would have otherwise experienced.

A few minutes after the injection I proceed with the circumcision only after testing adequacy of the pain relief.

Despite taking these steps you may hear your baby cry but I am more than convinced that this cry is not due to ‘pain’. There are several other reasons when babies cry as newborn baby parents may be familiar with.

I have been doing this pain relief now for over 17 years in my baby circumcision practice.