A quick search for “babies remember” will turn up numerous articles and studies that make it clear that babies DO have memory. How those memories are recalled or how they affect the individual’s life is another question. One book to consider reading on the topic is “The Body Keeps the Score.”
When it comes to genital cutting rituals, it is amazing that some people will say “they won’t remember” when justifying said ritual. Whether the pain from the action is remembered or not is immaterial when they look at their genitalia later in life and know that things are not as nature had intended. Since genitalia is generally kept from public view and not discussed in places where it is considered taboo to do so, people often do not know what they are missing. However, that does not prevent them from learning later in life. If one was to have a hand removed at birth, they would easily notice that most other people have two hands and garner many advantages. This would understandably be traumatizing to the individual. For genitalia, one may learn how having a clitoral hood (female prepuce), all their labia, or their foreskin (male prepuce) has advantages and also become traumatized. This will cause grief and the individual will go through their grief stages at various rates. Some may not learn about the advantages all at once, thus, will go through the stages of grief repeatedly.
However, the question still remains: “Can Babies Remember Trauma?” There are many resources that study that question:
- Can Babies Remember Trauma? Symbolic Forms of Representation in Traumatized Infants
- Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma by Ronald Goldman, PhD
- Circumcision Scar (where the author notes recurring nightmares)
There are also cases where men had recurring nightmares that they believe come from the event.
There are also well-known impacts on mother-child bonding and breastfeeding.
Also consider: Babies Remember Pain by David B. Chamberlain Ph.D.
Page last updated February 21, 2022