What do you/will you do with the cord? - Page 2

[dayiscoming2006]

Good to know from people who have experience. I'll probably stick with tying it just in case. 

[jksmith]

the problem with using alcohol is that it kills the bacteria (gangrene actually) that causes the cord to rot off. That's why it gets a little smelly towards the ends and why it falls of faster with no "treatment". It is, however, ok for it to get wet in bath, it just doesn't need to be cleaned.

[Banana731]

Originally Posted by lightinmyhands 

what's with all this cord tying and clamping if you're cutting it after it stops pulsing?  they only clamp it at the hospital because they cut it too early and blood would spray everywhere without the clamp.  it's really simple, wait 15min or so until it's not pulsing and it goes limp...then get sharp scissors (kitchen scissors work fine, sterilized of course) and cut it.  :)

Just to keep it from oozing as much blood. It still bleeds when you cut a limp cord because there is blood in the cord.

I wanted to add that I have decided that I am not a fan of the cord elastic we used this time. It came off the other day, but not completely (it wasn't completely dried out).  I obviously could be placing blame on the thing when it has nothing to do with it, but I wouldn't use it again.

[dayiscoming2006]

Are you referring to a "cord band?" I have that as one of my options and was thinking about using it, so would be interested to know. 

http://inhishands.com/Cord-Band.4760?filters=cord_20band-s

Originally Posted by Banana731 

Just to keep it from oozing as much blood. It still bleeds when you cut a limp cord because there is blood in the cord.

I wanted to add that I have decided that I am not a fan of the cord elastic we used this time. It came off the other day, but not completely (it wasn't completely dried out).  I obviously could be placing blame on the thing when it has nothing to do with it, but I wouldn't use it again.

[Banana731]

http://inhishands.com/Cord-Ring.73

it's actually this (though not this brand). the circle thing on the right goes around the cord stump (it's elastic, you use hemostats to stretch it) and then you trim the long tag off.

[riverview9]

Someone mentioned spraying with breastmilk. I think that's a great idea if you want to apply anything to it. I think covering it with gauze pads so it doesn't rub against blankets or clothes sounds like  a good idea

[lightinmyhands]

i put breast milk on both my babies cords a few times a day at diaper changes until the stumps fell off.  We never had any cord problems.  I read somewhere recently that tying it off even though it's stopped pulsing is beneficial to keep blood from flowing from baby back into placenta but I can't remember where I read that and can not attest to it's validity.  We did not tie the cord and it didn't seem to be a problem.  a little blood did ooze out but we were in a birth pool so it didn't really matter.  

[Devaskyla]

Originally Posted by lightinmyhands 

what's with all this cord tying and clamping if you're cutting it after it stops pulsing?  they only clamp it at the hospital because they cut it too early and blood would spray everywhere without the clamp.  it's really simple, wait 15min or so until it's not pulsing and it goes limp...then get sharp scissors (kitchen scissors work fine, sterilized of course) and cut it.  :)

Umm...actually there is a very good reason to tie the cord off before cutting it. There are some babies who don't completely switch their circulation immediately and if you DON'T tie, they will bleed from the stump. Trust me, it is terrifying. We waited an hour, at least, after the placenta was birthed. There was no blood from the placenta side of the cut, but there was from ds. We hurriedly tied it with something, didn't even worry about sterilizing because we need to get the bleeding stopped ASAP.

As for the OP, with ds1, he had the full hospital experience, cord clamp/alcohol combo. It took about 2 1/2 weeks. With ds2, we tied with a sterilized shoelace after about an hour, left it alone. It took about 5 days. Ds3 we had the above experience, left it alone & it came off after about 3 days.