Umbilical cord care: Do’s and don’ts for parents
Umbilical wire care: Do’s and don’ts for mother and father
A newborn’s umbilical wire stump commonly falls off within just about two months after beginning. In the meantime, address your baby’s umbilical wire stump gently.
By Mayo Clinic Staff members
Question how to treatment for your newborn’s umbilical twine stump? Comply with these ideas to market therapeutic.
Why your infant has an umbilical twine stump


Umbilical twine at beginning
Umbilical cord at birth
Immediately after start, the umbilical twine is clamped and snipped.
In the course of being pregnant, the umbilical cord materials nutrition and oxygen to your producing child. Following start, the umbilical cord is no more time wanted — so it is clamped and snipped. This leaves driving a shorter stump.
Using care of the stump
Your baby’s umbilical cord stump dries out and ultimately falls off — normally within just a person to three months immediately after delivery. In the meantime, deal with the region carefully:
- Keep the stump dry. Parents ended up when instructed to swab the stump with rubbing alcohol immediately after each diaper transform. Scientists now say this may possibly get rid of micro organism that can aid the cord dry and different. As an alternative, expose the stump to air to aid dry out the base. Preserve the entrance of your baby’s diaper folded down to prevent covering the stump.
- Stick with sponge baths. Whilst there is no harm in acquiring the stump soaked, sponge baths may make it less complicated to keep the stump dry.
- Let the stump fall off on its very own. Resist the temptation to pull off the stump by yourself.
Signs of a problem
All through the therapeutic approach, it is really standard to see a tiny blood close to the stump. A lot like a scab, the twine stump might bleed a small when it falls off.
Even so, contact your baby’s medical professional if the umbilical place oozes pus, the surrounding skin results in being pink and swollen, or the spot develops a pink moist bump. These could be signs of an umbilical twine infection. Prompt treatment method is needed to end the an infection from spreading.
Also, converse to your baby’s health care provider if the stump still has not separated right after 3 weeks. This could possibly be a indicator of an fundamental problem, such an infection or immune technique problem.
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Feb. 08, 2022
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