That's roughly what I was told when we made the decision to circumcise our son.

Having read more, later in life, about the history and origins of the practice, it's a decision I really regret.

Maybe you should cite your sources because that is a lot of bullshit.

"Among the few alleged benefits of circumcision that are of actual relevance to children, the most prominent is the claim that it protects against urinary tract infections in the first year of life. The degree of relative risk reduction for circumcised boys is most often reported as 10-fold (over a small absolute incidence), based on retrospective data.[22] However, a large prospective cohort study – a more reliable research design – reported a relative risk reduction in hospitalization for UTI of 3.7-fold.[23] Furthermore, in this study, when all outpatient UTIs were considered, the relative risk reduction dropped to 1.73-fold.[23]

To put UTIs into perspective, a study from Sweden, where boys are not circumcised, found that, over the first six years of life, the absolute risk of UTIs in boys was low, at 1.8% versus 6.6% in girls, and that UTI infection in boys was rare after the first year of life (0.1-0.2%).[24] Another investigator found a UTI rate of 0.08% in males >1 year old.[25] When UTIs do occur, they respond rapidly to antibiotic therapy.[26-28] UTIs in the first months of life are less likely to involve the kidneys,[29] and UTIs rarely, if ever, result in hypertension or end-stage kidney disease.[30-37]"

https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/for-professional...

There's a lot of conflicting/unclear research and it's my understanding that there's not much solid evidence in either direction on most of this stuff. Small studies, questionable causation, etc.

That said, the hygiene argument is insane to me. Anyone who can be taught to wipe their ass can be taught to clean their penis.

Especially since pre-puberty, boys should be taught not to try and retract their foreskin for cleaning. It's not necessary, and forcing it might very well cause damage. From the perspective of a five year old, cleaning a circumcised penis and an uncircumcised penis is exactly the same.

>Easier hygiene. We could also cut out all our teeth, so we don't ever get cavities!

The problem with the rest of everything you mentioned is that the effect sizes for those things are tiny. Your chance of getting penis cancer when circumcised is 1 in 10,000,000, and if you don't its 1 in 10,005,223. This sort of tiny effect can just come from confounding variables, like "people who circumcise tend to be Jewish and American so they eat better food and get cancer less in general."

>Easier hygiene. Circumcision makes it simpler to wash the penis.

Totally false. You can teach your kids to peel and wash properly it's not hard at all. It's like washing behind your ears.

Don't fall for this and mutilate your children for no reason.

There's a ton of stuff we could do to to babies that has a lot better of a record on preventative effects.