# Retracting the foreskin to urinate?



## SydMom (Dec 10, 2015)

Should my son be retracting when he goes to the bathroom? Should he retract partially or completely? Should he wipe afterwards? Does retracting improve aim at all? What do all of your sons do?


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## camillabien (Jun 8, 2015)

How old is your son? If he's still potty training than I suggest you just teach him to go sitting. I make my sons pee sitting down until they're old enough to retract. All the bathrooms in my house are spotless. LOL. Sometimes a foreskin can't be retracted until puberty (my 12 year old still can't retract at all) though most boys are capable of retracting it by age six, usually sooner (that's around when my two younger sons first retracted). I knew exactly when my two younger boys could retract their foreskins because all they wanted to do was show off their new "trick". If you KNOW your son can retract his foreskin, teach him to do it before he pees. To put it into simple terms: a gun won't shoot straight if it's in its holster. If you don't know if your son can retract or not, teach him to sit down to pee. Trying to retract a still-attached foreskin can result in injury and scarring and peeing standing up with an unretracted foreskin can make quite a huge mess.


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## hakunangovi (Feb 15, 2002)

There is no right answer to this question. I think it totally depends on the individual's penile physiology. I know that my son and nephews could all pee reasonably straight before they could retract and my son still could after he became partially retractable. In fact, I never saw him retract to pee. I think the issue of aim and spraying becomes worse after the foreskin tip becomes wider and the stream catches one side or other. My one BIL says he makes a terrible mess if he does not retract. From what I understand, retraction to just expose the meatus is all that is required.


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## JHardy (Jun 22, 2015)

I think it's really up to what he is comfortable with. If he cannot retract his foreskin yet, then this point is moot. If it can, it depends on his physiology. Some boys can pee just fine without retracting their foreskin. Other boys foreskin gets in the way of the flow and make a mess. My boys were mixed. But as far as I know, once they could retract, they all did/do retract to pee.


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## Dave RW (Jun 26, 2014)

I'll retract when I'm standing at a toilet, but otherwise (sitting, at a urinal, in the woods) I'll usually just pee "through" my foreskin. For me, at least, there's very little spray, and depending on how much overhang I have at that particular moment, the foreskin can act as a funnel.


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## EnviroBecca (Jun 5, 2002)

My son had a UTI when he was 9. The doctor asked if he'd been retracting to pee, and he said no. Doctor said it was better to do so as it reduces the moisture hanging around afterward that can encourage infection. I don't know how seriously to take this advice, though, as the cause of the infection was constipation preventing complete emptying of the bladder--of course, the bacteria had to get into the urinary tract, but nothing indicates that they were growing under the foreskin particularly; they got in and then were growing in the bladder.

When we toilet-trained him, we taught him to pee sitting and said that once he had learned that, he could try standing. He didn't want to try it often, and we didn't push him. So after this discussion of technique came up last year (when I hadn't seen him pee in at least 3 or 4 years) I asked if he was now standing usually. He said sitting is "easier" unless he's in a situation where the urinal is more convenient or the toilet has no door. I think that's fine--I'm glad he's never made a mess of our bathroom routinely! :thumb


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## Nonie's mom (Sep 26, 2006)

Not trying to steal the thread but i was hoping for more information along the same line. I have a 4yr old intact son and he pees all over the place if he isnt sitting. I have always told dh that we need to be hands off of son and just let things progress as son sees fit. I was horrified to hear dh tell me the other day that he is encouraging son to pull back his forskin before he stands to pee so that he aims better and doesn't make a mess. I looked at ds's penis a while back and noticed just a tiny hole fir him to pee out of. His penis balloons which I thought was normal. There is no way he can pull it back over his penis. When dh told me this i looked and the tiny hole was sore looking like it was bloody. I was so upset i couldn't address the situation. I think dh wants to take ds to a public toilet and have him able to stand and not make a mess. He doesn't like ds to sit on public toilets. Ds's forskin seems to be loose so i don't know if some parts are still adhered. I only know he has a tiny hole and i dont want it screwed up. Could someone tell me if ds 's loose foreskin and tiny hole sound normal and if i should tell dh to just let me take ds to the potty in the ladies room so he can sit. I fought to keep his foreskin and i dont want that sabotaged because of a little pee on the floor.


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## joandsarah77 (Jul 5, 2005)

A lot of four year olds still sit. Instead of having ds pull back-which he is not yet ready to do, have him pull down a little to unstick things. Most of the aiming troubles is simply from being four and it can be to do with the shape of the foreskin. My son is 11, does not yet retract and its never interfered with his aim, I think it's good luck with the shape of his foreskin more than anything.


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## hakunangovi (Feb 15, 2002)

Nonie's mom said:


> I looked at ds's penis a while back and noticed just a tiny hole fir him to pee out of. His penis balloons which I thought was normal. There is no way he can pull it back over his penis. When dh told me this i looked and the tiny hole was sore looking like it was bloody. I was so upset i couldn't address the situation. Ds's forskin seems to be loose so i don't know if some parts are still adhered. I only know he has a tiny hole and i dont want it screwed up. Could someone tell me if ds 's loose foreskin and tiny hole sound normal and if i should tell dh to just let me take ds to the potty in the ladies room so he can sit.
> 
> I fought to keep his foreskin and i dont want that sabotaged because of a little pee on the floor.


Your son sounds to be totally normal. Many boys do not become retractable until after puberty - that was the case with my two closest intact friends. I agree with the PP, that a lot of the aiming is due to his young age. One trick that I have heard parents use to encourage better aim, is to drop a couple of cheerios into the toilet bowl and encourage the little guy to hit them with his stream. Kind of a fun game.

Kudos to you for keeping him intact and continuing to make sure that no harm comes to his foreskin. Forced retraction can often cause minute tears in the tight sphincter, which leads to scar tissue and ultimately serious problems. Please do not allow your DH or anyone else to do that.


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## Nonie's mom (Sep 26, 2006)

hakunangovi said:


> Your son sounds to be totally normal. Many boys do not become retractable until after puberty - that was the case with my two closest intact friends. I agree with the PP, that a lot of the aiming is due to his young age. One trick that I have heard parents use to encourage better aim, is to drop a couple of cheerios into the toilet bowl and encourage the little guy to hit them with his stream. Kind of a fun game.
> 
> Kudos to you for keeping him intact and continuing to make sure that no harm comes to his foreskin. Forced retraction can often cause minute tears in the tight sphincter, which leads to scar tissue and ultimately serious problems. Please do not allow your DH or anyone else to do that.


Thank you for the responses. He seems ok and i told dh and ds that he just needs to sit. I explained that he has skin where dad doesn't and that it will eventually pull back but not until he is older and that only he can do that. I have never really said anything about it to ds. He gets hurties sometimes inside the skin that he says stings after he goes pee. I figured that i needed to explain that as his body gets bigger and the skin starts to detatch or gets pulled or whatever, he might get stingies like that but they will go away. It is a part if growing. I really need to educate myself on the medical terms of the anatomy so that i can teach him more clearly and really understand the stings he has instead of a slightly educated guess. I wasn't expecting issues if he was just left alone. Anyway thank you for the responses!!!


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## joandsarah77 (Jul 5, 2005)

His 'stingies' are probably some separation happening. Boys who are going to retract young tend to be the ones who get this, 1-3 days of soreness. The best thing is a warm bath with a cupful of baking soda.


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## Nonie's mom (Sep 26, 2006)

joandsarah77 said:


> His 'stingies' are probably some separation happening. Boys who are going to retract young tend to be the ones who get this, 1-3 days of soreness. The best thing is a warm bath with a cupful of baking soda.


Thank you! I feel so much better!!


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