First cut is the deepest

Male babies circumcised without anaesthetic have heightened pain responses for months afterwards, suggesting the way their bodies perceive pain is altered. According to a paper in the Lancet, those who were circumcised reacted most strongly to vaccinations, four to six months later. The authors suggested that increased pain reactions so long afterwards may be because the memory of early distress was re-experienced, triggered by the pain of the injection.

The infants' reactions were videotaped, and the percentage of time they cried and certain facial features (brows bulging, eyes squeezed) were measured. Uncircumcised infants showed least pain while those circumcised without anaesthetic were in greatest pain. Glenda Cooper