The sages considered circumcision a dangerous surgical procedure requiring care.
Thus, for example, they were carefully to thoroughly coat the infant’s sexual organ and with medicinal ointments.
The sage Abaye added in the name of his nurse that one should not use fiber bandages lest they entwine themselves around the organ and cause sterility. The above ages also said that is an infant’s rectum is not obvious one should rub the spot with oil and place the infant in the sun. The spot which is clear as glass is where the rectum is located. One should take a kernel of barley and with its sharp edge cut the skin blocking the rectum, but one should not use a metal tool lest the area become infected. The sage also added that if an infant refuses to nurse from his mother’s breast it is because his lips are cold. He suggested taking warm coals in a vessel and place them close to the infant’s lips to warm them so he will begin to nurse. He further added that an infant who has problems with his pulse and breathing should be fanned with a fan, and that an infant who has trouble breathing should be rubbed with his mother’s placenta. He added that an infant born scrawny, his mother’s placenta should be rubbed on him from the thin side to the wide, as a sign that he should widen, too. If he was born too heavy he should be rubbed with the placenta from the wide side to the thin, as a sign that he should thin down. He also said that an infant born red has not absorbed his blood into his limbs and there is fear that were he circumcised all his blood would flow out, so the circumcision should be postponed until the blood is absorbed into the limbs and his skin gains a natural color. If his skin is yellow, it is a symptom of weakness and the circumcision should be postponed until the skin color gains a natural tone. To support his words the sage related an incident involving Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian. A woman lost two sons after their circumcisions, and when she gave birth to her third son she went to get advice from Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian. Rabbi Nathan saw that the baby was red and suggested she wait to circumcise him until his skin became a normal color. She did so and her son remained alive; she named him Nathan the Babylonian after the sage who gave her good advice. In another case a woman lost two sons after their circumcisions, and when she gave birth to a third son she went to ask advice of Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian. Rabbi Nathan saw that the child was yellow and advised her to postpone his circumcision until his skin became a normal color. She did so and her son lived; she named him Nathan the Babylonian after the sage who gave her good advice.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 134a)