How to take care of the umbilical cord
March 5, 2009
The umbilical cord provides nourishment to the fetus throughout the nine months of pregnancy. Now, it has become a purplish-blue stump that is about one inch long. Normally, this umbilical stump will fall off, completely healed, within a couple of weeks.
However, in some babies it will take two months for the stump to get dried and fall off. No attempt should be made to pull off the cord before complete heal has occurred. This will lead to active bleeding, which results in the appearance of one blood drop after another. Extreme care should be taken to ensure that both irritation and resultant infection are avoided as long as the cord remains on the body.
The umbilical stump and its premises should be kept clean. In some babies in whom the umbilical cord simply refuses to get fried, doctors recommend cleaning the base of the cord by rubbing alcohol. This needs to be done after every diaper change. However, some pediatricians are completely against this idea and believe that skin will be irritated by the presence of alcohol and healing will be delayed.
It is important to ensure that the cord is exposed to air always. This will minimize the amount of time required for cord to heal completely. It is advisable to give the baby sponge baths till the cord gets fully healed. The baby should be exposed to tub bath only after the falling off of the umbilical cord.
It is always better to allow the natural healing of the cord. However, immediate medical aid should be provided if you notice yellowish or white pus oozing out from the cord. Red and swollen umbilicus indicates that the cord has become infected.
Foul smelling discharge and traces of blood are yet other symptoms of infection. Umbilical Granuloma is a condition that is characterized by a small nodule of hard pinkish-red tissue along with persistent yellow-green discharge.
St.Botanica Cosmetics
Recent Articles
How to cope with an autistic child
He could start to speak when he became three years old. Till the age of seven he often repeated sentences. He felt afraid in crowd. As a grown up his lectures were puzzling
How to choose the right maternity clothes
Two things cannot be hidden: being astride a camel and being pregnant. On being pregnant you will realize that your boobs have gone up 2-3 times
How to help your child read better
Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don’t train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different
Thumb sucking in children
Do you know which fruit did Christopher Columbus introduce to Europe? No, you are wrong, it is not orange, its pineapple. Did you know that fresh pineapple provides 60
How to Deal with a Speech Delayed Child
If you find your child not responding to sounds or not imitating sounds like children of his age group would generally do, then it might be that the child is suffering from a speech delay
