Spinoff - Checking Children's Privates

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 4:27 pm

I understand the pediatrician needs to make sure a baby boy's testicles descend properly etc. in infancy...

How often is normal for a pediatrician to check the testicles/privates of a boy in preschool, school age, and teenage years?

Though my son is young, he goes to the same practice my brothers did and 2 of my brothers mentioned the doctor checking their privates at every visit. Isn't teenage really young to get that type of cancer? Or is there another reason I am not aware of?

If it is normal to check at all these ages, how often, and why?

flowerpower

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 6:18 pm

amother [ Violet ] wrote:

They check by every well visit.

This. It takes one second. They want to make sure all is okay down there.

thunderstorm

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 6:21 pm

My boys have been checked by every we'll visit. That's how the doctor also determined whether my kids finished going through puberty etc. My oldest is 18 and he was recently checked. The doctor makes me leave the room once they reach a certain age so that they don't feel uncomfortable with me there. It takes less than 30 seconds.

meme6

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 6:29 pm

They check at each well visit to make sure all looks right and no hernia they also inform the mother if child has hair or not to know where the females are up to hormonally. Testicles can be an issue later also

unexpected

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 6:55 pm

meme6 wrote:

Okay this is just gross. I'm sorry, if it was that important for me to know where my daughter was holding hormonally I could just ask her - I don't need a doctor to check and tell me. My children have never had their privates checked past the age of 2 or so... regular mainstream pediatrician here.

cnc

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:00 pm

unexpected wrote:

That sounds pretty irresponsible .

amother

Copper

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:14 pm

unexpected wrote:

Extremely irresponsible. My pediatrician checks every well visit. My 11 year old just needed surgery on his testicles. I don’t want to imagine what would have happen if he didn’t check.

amother

Violet

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:37 pm

Meme6, I find it disturbing that a pediatrician would tell a parent if the child has hair down there, that's disgusting & never had a pediatrician tell this to me.

marina

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:42 pm

unexpected wrote:

Precocious puberty can be a sign of a serious hormonal problem and it’s not gross at all for doctors to check for signs of development. Plse learn more abt this as your children grow.

unexpected

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 7:58 pm

There are other signs of early puberty and I'd imagine if my daughter experienced this I'd be the one to tell my dr, not the other way around

cnc

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 8:00 pm

unexpected wrote:

There are other signs of early puberty and I'd imagine if my daughter experienced this I'd be the one to tell my dr, not the other way around

That’s not the only thing they check for .

amother

Ecru

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 8:56 pm

For boys it is standard of care to check privates at every well visit- testicles that were previously descended can ascend. Hernias can develop. There are other testicular conditions that can be of importance and full sports clearance should technically not be granted without a testicular exam.

While it may be useful to check what stage of puberty an adolescent is in, if they are not coming in with a concern about that, and their height/weight/rest of exam is normal, puberty staging is not the primary reason for checking down there.

Non s-xually active females do not routinely have to be checked, unless of course there is reason for concern.

All this being said, a child can defer, but it must be noted in the chart.

Rappel

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:52 pm

There are plenty of other things the doctor is checking for than hair! If there is a severe hormone imbalance, then girls can develop pseudo-test!cles etc. It's not that uncommon.

amother

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:56 pm

All this is helpful. Thanks. I am glad to know it's legit to check a boy every well visit. The truth is I have heard of someone who needed surgery for fluid in testicles so that could be another reason.

flmommy

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 11:20 pm

Ped always checks my boys and girls privates at annual visit. Once we were surprised when a DS got bad cold sores on his mouth from preschool. When I took him to the ped they looked at his privates. I was shocked but I understood. If G-D forbid a child was being zexually abused that would be a sign.

amother

Cyan

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 11:30 pm

I was wondering if someone can tell me if this is normal or not...I will ask the ped but till I get to ask...I undressed my son to bathe him, he was animatedly telling me a story and I realized that every time he spoke one of his testes sort of disappeared. Is this normal? Maybe I should really start a spinoff sorry OP

oneofakind

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 11:49 pm

From these posts it seems miraculous that many of us weren't checked "down there" from a young age and we all grew up healthy and normal.

My ped asked if DD age 5 was "very shy" before he checked her. If she would have been, I get the sense he would have skipped it and he's a very respected and responsible doctor.