I know I posted a while back about circumcision and how we were researching whether or not to do it. Well this week when we took Kate to the pediatrician for her croup, we asked the head doctor of the practice what he thought about it. I figured he wouldn't take a stance since the AAP hasn't taken a formal stance - and also because it's a religious practice for some. He told me he had done some research about the origins of circumcision.

Apparently when circumcision was done thousands of years ago, it was done because people were living in the desert and back then it was more of a hygiene issue. There was a severe lack of water in the desert. They weren't able to bathe as frequently, therefore they circumcised to prevent infection. Circumcision became big in the US during WWI. A lot of the men were coming home from war with infections and diseases due to hygiene issues because they were fighting and were not able to properly clean themselves. As a result, men were then required to be circumcised before going to war. Because it was so painful for the grown men to be circumcised, they decided to circumcise their sons at birth so they wouldn't have to endure the pain that they did as adults.

I thought it was pretty interesting so I thought I would share.

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--Kristina