It's a wonder any ancient civilization other than the Jews survived since circumcision is obviously so medically necessary!
Seriously, teach boys to use soap and water properly and infection is not an issue.
It goes much before the Jews...something prehistoric, is what I read. Stone-tools and things like that...
I wonder how the first one was done, and the parties involved, "convinced"?
I agree that proper hygiene will deal with most of these situations, but repeated infection usually signals a larger problem. It appears the child is prone to infection and his doctor agrees circumcision is medically necessary. I fail to understand why a father seek to overrule medical advice, without seeking any of his own.
My brother in law (my sister married a Methodist) went through a very similar process with a father who was uncircumcised and felt strongly that his son's issue was one of cleanliness. When he was in the military in his mid-twenties he underwent a circumcision. It was extremely painful, took a week to heal, but he has had no recurrance of infection since. All of their sons were circumcised at birth.