Super scared of the umbilical cord stump

[Brightxeyes]

My baby is 9 days old, and his umbilical cord stump has yet to fall off.. But.. It's getting close im sure.

I don't know I just feel almost a little stressed over it.. Like holding him, moving him into a position to burp him, and my god when it's nappy time... Yesterday he was upset during a nappy change and I tried to be quick, but he pushed his hands downwards and he pushed on the clip and my god I nearly cried at the thought of him nearly ripping it off.. It genuinely stresses me out..

Anyone else feeling the same?

I bathe him with warm water and cotton wool on a towel at the moment as I've been advised not to get it wet in a bath, plus midwife said a lot of people just top and tail their newborns until the cord does drop off.
But yesterday I could barely do his chest and yummy area cuz every time his vest is off im scared he's gonna try and knock it again.

Thing is though, he was like me as a baby, very dry. I've managed to bathe his legs and arms and around his neck and face properly, and put some newborn suitable lotion on..
I just can't bare to go near the stump.

I do my best to clean around it, especially as quite a few times he's leaked his nappy.. But I have to make sure he's verh relaxed or asleep to do it.

Iduno I can't really get advice for this its just I'm just working myself up over his bloody belly button haha

I'm hoping and praying it comes off in his sleep tonight.. It's a matter of a couple of days!

The health visitor is coming for the first time Monday.. Will they check it usually??

 

[Baby_Dreams]

Try not to worry too much. My little girls started to really smell that was horrible! Ask the midwife to check if it doesn't come off naturally before then xx

 

[Brightxeyes]

Yeah there is a smell, but the midwife said it was meant to smell pretty bad because essentially it's dead flesh.
I've just had a look at it and it's really freaked me out..

Like I can see there's some darker pink skin under there (like the dry bit has come away on the one side more than the other) and you can tell that's the belly button underneath.. But then you've got the bit in the middle that it's still attached to, and it looks a bit more.. Gooey but not in a bad puss way.. And then you've got the dry bit.. It's like its just waiting for that Middle bit to dry up the same to come off..

But I thought just I saw a tiny bit of blood, so I'm gonna wait for him to fall asleep properly and take another look..

It's probably got irritated from where he's caught it yesterday!

 

[felix555]

Oh man I hated that thing, I was so happy the day it came off.

For the dry skin you can try coconut oil, it should sort it quite quickly.

 

[SoBlessedMama]

Maybe it is just around here, but we've been advised by doctors with both little boys to clean around the stump with rubbing alcohol until it falls off. This helps keep it clean, keeps it from smelling, and also helps dry it up as it gets ready to fall off.

I was terrified of doing this with our older son, but our doctor assured us it does not hurt the baby (since it is dead skin.) I was skeptical, because I thought, "How can that possibly not hurt??" But neither boy has ever cried once when having it cleaned with alcohol. (A slight flinch at first because it feels cold lol, but then they are fine, and it obviously doesn't hurt them.)

I'm sure it will fall off soon. : ) My first son's fell off at 11 or 12 days, and our new little guy lost his at 9 days.

 

[mel28nicole]

Took DD 13 days for hers to come off. And she still had a little bit still in there about 5 days after

 

[babifever]

10 years ago in USA I was told to clean with rubbing alcohol until falls off

 

[Tulip]

Try not to stress - from the way you've described it it sounds completely normal. NHS advice is to just keep it clean and leave it be - I'm sure it'll be off in the next day or two but tall to the hv about it when she comes.

I used a cotton tie instead of the plastic clip on DS2 and it was so much easier not getting the clip caught on everything...

 

[Mushymilkfor2]

It should fall of soon, it seems right around that time to. Over here they remove the clip, why don't you just do that? It would be less stressful for you, and should cause no harm. Also don't be afraid if there's a little blood, that's normal too. If there's enough to need a bandaid then call but otherwise a tiny bit is okay.

 

[Tigerlilyb]

Try not to worry so much, if he didn't cry or flinch when he caught it then it's likely fine.

Over here in France they actually encourage you to bathe your newborns while still in hospital (every day for the first few days for practice, I guess) and then clean the stump once per day with antiseptic stuff. Just two little wipes, no deep cleaning.

Who knows which advice is right, all I know is that we've not had any trouble with either little one. Stumps are just gross.

 

[purplecupcake]

My son's got ripped off on day 5. I was getting him undressed for a bath and suddenly noticed it wasn't there anymore...found it in his clothing. I assume it was ripped off as it was just a round wet cavern that looked full of blood and yellow fluid. I was kind of freaked out but just kept it dry and it scabbed over in an hour and was a bellybutton the next day!

 

[CaptainMummy]

I plopped my dd3 in the bath in hospital, its absolutely fine if it gets wet! Just make sure you dab dry afterwards. Hers acrually fell off at 4 days old, but I still find tiny spots of dried blood on her nappy or in her bellybutton.

 

[Amy2701]

My SIL managed to rip both my kids off when changing their nappies (yes, the same SIL both times - and she has 4 kids of her own lol). I think it was around 10 days both times.

I'm always really relieved when they're off though, they're horrid.

 

[Brightxeyes]

It's off! I didn't scream and I did a happy dance haha. I Can't wait to give him a bath in the morning now there still like a bit of dry stuff left on there, but it all looks pretty good! And even if it's just a shallow bath I don't have to worry too much about his hands nearly ripping the clip off now! Yayyy

 

[SoBlessedMama]

Lol I'm glad it's gone and you feel better!! : )

 

[Tulip]

 

[Baby_Dreams]

Yay good news xx