Very Stinky Umbilical Cord?

[Taryn237]

DD is 10 days old. Around day 7 her cord really started to smell so I cleaned around it w/alcohol (left alone until then). It still really smells. I called the pedi and of course they're like 'better bring her in' but I hate to go in for every little thing. It doesn't look infected, skin around is nice and pink, no red streaking. Any advice?

[barefootpoetry]

DS2's cord started to stink around 1 week too. It was all gooey and oozing nasty brown gunk. It was perfectly healthy, just smelly. He had a ped appointment the next day and when I pointed out the cord, she just took an alcohol wipe and yanked it right off! It was done! So I would guess your baby's is ready to come off too.

[Romana]

My ds' cord was like that. The doctor put a little silver nitrate on it, and it was SO much better after that. It was stinky, gooey, oozing, just really disgusting. Getting the silver nitrate didn't upset ds or anything, and it cleared up the ick.

[Juvysen]

Ds's cord was stinky like that. The midwive cleaned around it really well (I was kinda like OMG! THAT'S TOO MUCH!), and it fell off an hour later. I guess it was just sticking to his skin a little and not really attached anymore. This was after only like 3 or 4 days.

[jeliphish]

They stink for sure...just like the goo that comes out of piercing holes I think anything that comes from within has a certain stinkiness....plus it's basically rotting out of her belly button. Just keep the alcohol on it- if it's hanging by a thread you could pull it on out...that's what our pedi did.

[Veritaserum]

My third baby's was very goopy. I don't recall it smelling, but it had lots of yellow puss stuff. She had a strep infection in her skin that she caught from dh (strep throat).

You can try drying it with a low-temp hair dryer....

[alexzanders_mama]

Both DS and DH had stinky belly buttons but the midwife just cleaned them and they fell off a couple hours later.

[mwherbs]

so here is the deal- if you call a medical professional now-a-days and you ask a question/present a possible problem- most are going to have to see to be sure that they understand what you are talking about- and that they can rule out a disease state or something that is dangerous. now in my household- I have butterfly bandaged things that could possibly have been sutured and I have treated topical infections and I know or have a pretty good idea what an infection smells like and what it would look like- so if it were my baby I would probably be able to tell if it is normal or needs some treatment-- but smelly cord can be normal or it can be a sign/symptom of infection almost all cords smell- and a normal healthy cord dries out and rots hopefully -- so if it were normal healing/rotting process I would probably give my baby a bath and then dry the baby well, be in a warm room and leave the baby naked , probably with something under to keep the furniture clean -- and I would use a bit of breast milk to add a bit of antibodies to the area-- there are maybe 1 or 2 studies about breastmilk and cords and preventing cord infections and studies about skin to skin contact also for prevention-- so when the baby is undressed -- or if need be I would diaper but make sure that the diaper is well below the cord stump-- and then shirtless Iwould nurse so that my skin germs would get on the baby/skin to skin.- also I would be sure that the clothing that is on the baby is not synthetic-- my preference is cotton or a cotton blend that has more cotton than poly-- if I needed a warm sleeper it would be wool what you want is something that will wick way any moisture that may be against the tummy... but if there is red skin around the area or if the baby doesn't seem well, sleeps too much... or if I were unsure I would take the baby to our family doc--

[~threemoons~]

dd2s cord smelled terrible! I'm a nurse and I have taken care of many people with gangrene, and that's exactly what hers smelled like. My MW used one of the rubber band thingies :-) and there seemed to be more umbilical cord left than with dd1. and well, I guess as far as the dead rotting smell....thats kind of what is happening I called my MW, she just had me watch out for signs of infection and let her soak in the bath. it came off like 2 days later.

[*Erin*]

dd and ds both had that-dd, we tried peroxide-did the job, and it was fine. ds we had to actually take in to the ped where they put some black stuff on it, and it dried up and fell off.

[Taryn237]

Its hanging on by a thread. It should fall off today. I really can't believe the stench though! I've been cleaning w/alcohol and then blow drying on low.

[leerypolyp]

Yes, it's that piercing gunk smell!

(I kind of enjoy it.)

Anyway, it's normal.

[Dabble]

Well hopefully it will come off today then! It will be nice to be rid of the thing, won't it?

DS2's cord really smelled too, and I didn't remember that happening with DS1. It just smelled like rotting, and not just when you got up close to it either, it was like if you were holding him you could smell it. Yuck.

I mentioned it to his ped and she said that the smell is the sign that is about to come off because the cells are breaking down. She recommended a thorough wiping down with alcohol and q-tips just once per day (and really getting underneath it), since too much alcohol and cleansing can actually slow that process. She said to try to give as much air time to his belly as possible. It came off shortly after that, and he could have a good soak in the tub, thank goodness!

Incidentally, DS2 was a very big baby at birth (10lb, 2oz) and his cord was really really thick. The ped said that babies with a really thick cord like that will often have more stinkiness because there is more tissue to break down.