Infant circumcision causes severe, persistent pain. Some infants do not cry because they go into shock from the overwhelming pain of the surgery. Infants rarely receive anaesthesia or post-operative pain management. No anesthetic has been found to be safe and totally effective in preventing circumcision pain in infants. A stressful, painful event such as circumcision appears to affect feeding patterns.
Infants feed less frequently and are less available for interaction after circumcision.
Circumcision affects mother-infant interaction. Early Human Development , vol. Consequences for impaired bonding are significant. An estimated minimum of 1.3 to 6.6 million males born in the U.S. between 1940 and 1990 carry some degree of physical complication from infant circumcision. Unknown numbers carry some form of sexual or psychological complication.