Yes, circumcision is painful. This is true whether it’s performed as a Jewish brit milah or in a hospital setting. Newborns do feel pain during the procedure, and the idea that they’re “too young to notice” has been definitively disproven. The good news is that effective pain relief options exist, the discomfort is short-lived, and most infants recover quickly.
What Newborns Actually Feel
For decades, a common belief held that newborns couldn’t really process pain. Research has thoroughly dismantled this. Infants show clear, measurable pain responses during circumcision: elevated heart rates, changes in blood pressure, rising stress hormones, and obvious behavioral distress. In studies where newborns received no pain relief, their heart rates climbed an average of 27 beats per minute above baseline during the procedure, and roughly 31% of monitoring data was lost because the babies were moving too much to get clean readings.
One nuance worth noting: the foreskin of a newborn actually contains fewer nerve endings than that of an older child. A 2024 study in the Journal of Pediatric Urology compared foreskin tissue from children aged 0 to 3 with tissue from children aged 6 to 11. The younger group had significantly fewer touch receptors, pressure sensors, and free nerve endings across every category measured. This doesn’t mean newborns feel nothing, but it does mean that performing circumcision in the first days of life, as a brit milah traditionally does (on the eighth day), likely involves less sensory intensity than it would at an older age.
How Pain Is Managed During a Brit Milah
Traditional brit milah ceremonies have long used wine-soaked gauze or a few drops of sweet wine placed on the baby’s lips. This isn’t just ritual. Research shows that sweet liquids genuinely reduce pain responses in newborns. A randomized trial found that sucrose given on a pacifier provided significant pain relief throughout most of the circumcision, particularly in the early stages. Babies who received sucrose had far less distress-related movement (8% data loss versus 31% in the untreated group) and smaller spikes in heart rate.
Many mohelim (the trained practitioners who perform brit milah) now also use medical anesthesia alongside traditional practices. The two most common options are a topical numbing cream applied before the ceremony and a nerve block injected at the base of the penis. A study on topical lidocaine cream found that it kept stress hormone levels stable in most treated infants, while those who received a placebo showed rising stress hormones after the procedure. Systolic blood pressure also stayed steady in the treated group but rose significantly in the placebo group.
A dorsal penile nerve block is the most effective option. In the sucrose trial mentioned above, the nerve block reduced heart rate elevation by an average of 27 beats per minute compared to no treatment, versus about 10 beats per minute for sucrose alone. Not all mohelim offer a nerve block, so if pain management is a priority for you, it’s worth asking your mohel directly what methods they use and whether they’re open to incorporating medical anesthesia.
How Long the Pain Lasts Afterward
The procedure itself takes only seconds to a couple of minutes in a skilled mohel’s hands. The recovery period is where most of the discomfort actually occurs. For the first two to three days, the area will be swollen and tender. Swelling typically peaks in the first few days, then gradually resolves. A small amount of bleeding on the first day or two is normal, as is a mild low-grade fever around 99 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Over-the-counter pain relief, usually infant acetaminophen given on a schedule for the first three days, can prevent pain from building up. After that initial window, most babies only need it occasionally, if at all. The full healing process takes about 7 to 10 days for newborns, during which the site will look red and may have a yellowish film that’s often mistaken for infection but is actually normal healing tissue.
Normal Healing Versus Signs of a Problem
Redness, mild swelling, and some fussiness are all expected. What’s not expected is redness that keeps spreading outward from the wound, increasing pain that seems disproportionate to how the site looks, firmness or hardness around the area, or a fever climbing above 100.4 degrees. These can indicate infection, which is uncommon but does occur. If the baby seems increasingly distressed rather than gradually improving over the first few days, that warrants a call to your pediatrician.
Pain for Adults Undergoing Circumcision
Adult men who undergo circumcision, whether for conversion to Judaism or other reasons, have a different experience. The procedure is done under local anesthesia, so the circumcision itself is not typically painful beyond the initial injection. Recovery is more involved than for infants because the tissue is fully developed with a much higher density of nerve endings and larger blood vessels.
Swelling and bruising are common for the first two days. Over-the-counter ibuprofen or acetaminophen is usually sufficient for pain management. Most men can return to work and normal daily activities, including driving, within a few days to a week, depending on comfort. Strenuous physical activity like running, cycling, or weight lifting should wait at least two weeks. Swelling typically resolves within a few weeks, though in some cases it takes longer.
What You Can Do to Minimize Pain
If you’re planning a brit milah for your son, the single most impactful step is choosing a mohel who uses appropriate pain management. Ask specifically whether they apply topical anesthetic before the procedure and whether they’re willing to use a nerve block. Some mohelim who are also physicians routinely offer both. The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that circumcision should be performed with appropriate pain management, which reflects the current medical consensus that anesthesia is not optional.
During recovery, keeping the area clean and applying petroleum jelly with each diaper change prevents the healing skin from sticking to the diaper, which is one of the main sources of ongoing discomfort. Loose-fitting diapers help reduce friction. Staying on a schedule with pain relief for the first three days, rather than waiting until the baby seems uncomfortable, tends to produce a smoother recovery. Most families find that after the first 48 hours, their baby is feeding and sleeping normally again.