Commentary for Shabbat 267:16

שוב פעם אחת הלכתי למדינת קפוטקיא ובאת אשה אחת לפני שמלה בנה ראשון ומת שני ומת שלישי הביאתו לפני ראיתיו שהוא ירוק הצצתי בו ולא ראיתי בו דם ברית אמרתי לה המתיני לו עד שיפול בו דמו והמתינה לו ומלה אותו וחיה והיו קורין שמו נתן הבבלי על שמי:

Abaye also said: Mother told me, If an infant is too thin, his mother's after-birth should be brought and rubbed over him from its narrow end to its wide end;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Starting with the former and continuing until the latter. — This is symbolical: even so should the infant progress (Rashi). ');">²⁷</span> if he is too fat, [it should be rubbed] from the wide to the narrow end. Abaye also said: Mother told me, If an infant is too red, so that the blood is not yet absorbed in him,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Into his limbs, but it is still so the under-surface of the skin. This makes circumcision dangerous. ');">²⁸</span> we must wait until his blood is absorbed and then circumcise him. If he is green, so that he is deficient in blood,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., the blood has not yet fallen into him'. ');">²⁹</span> we must wait until he is full-blooded and then circumcise him. For it was taught, R. Nathan said: I once visited the Sea-towns,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tyre, etc. ');">³⁰</span> and a woman came before me who had circumcised her first son and he had died and her second son and he had died; the third she brought before me. Seeing that he was [too] red I said to her, Wait until his blood is absorbed. So she waited until his blood was absorbed and [then] circumcised hini and he lived; and they called him Nathan the Babylonian after my name. On another occasion I visited the Province of Cappadocia,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A district of Asia Minor. ');">³¹</span> and a woman came before me who had circumcised her first son and he had died and her second son and he had died; the third she brought before me. Seeing that he was green, I examined hini and saw no covenant blood<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The blood which circumcision causes to flow is so designated. Thus circumcision would be physically dangerous, and furthermore even if performed it would be inadequate, as covenant blood is required. ');">³²</span> in him. I said to her, Wait until he is full-blooded; she waited and [then] circumcised him and he lived, and they called him Nathan the Babylonian, after my name.

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