Belly button bleeding on 3 week old

[Agatha_Ann]

Hi Mamas, I'm hoping someone can tell me this is nothing to worry about! My newborn's umbilical stump fell off at 9 days and has looked great until this morning. When we woke up, I went to change his diaper and his belly button was crusted with blood. It must have bled sometime during the night, but I don't ever turn a light on, so I am just seeing after the fact.

I called the family Dr when they opened and the nurse said to clean it with alcohol and if it starts to ooze, pus, swell, or develop redness to take him to the ER. You can imagine, 3 weeks postpartum, I am starting to panic.

Talk me down? Been there done that?

[Marissamom]

both my kids had crusty belly buttons until maybe 5 weeks. I didn't do the clean with alcohol thing, just let the scab be. it takes some time for the belly button to fully close. 

[Blanca78]

I don't remember if there was blood or not, but I know my DD's stump was gross and oozy for about two weeks after the cord fell off. It just went away with time. There wasn't any redness or swelling around it so I wasn't worried. I think I remember reading that some blood could be normal.

[Agatha_Ann]

I've heard it can be normal for awhile after it falls off, I just haven't seen it be clear for two weeks and then start bleeding.

Thanks

[holothuroidea]

With my first, her stump fell off in 3 stages and each time she'd have more bleeding that would last a couple days. There might been a portion of the stump still left in the belly button that didn't come off until the night you saw bleeding even if you thought it fell off in one piece.

In any case, there's not much you can do about it. Just leave it alone or clean it gently with alcohol if you are so inclined (I only ever dabbed around it to clean the surrounding area- I never wanted to touch the belly button itself). The only danger is an infection, so just look out for signs like your nurse said.

With my second her stump fell off completely at 2 days old with no bleeding ever. But she is weird and was also born en caul. I think she has special powers  I think some naval bleeding happens to most babies but nobody really warns you.

[MarineWife]

my baby's cord stump fell off at 5 days but his belly button continued to get crusty with blood every so often. it was continuous for the first few days and then sporadic since. he's 3 weeks, 3 days today and i haven't noticed any blood or scabbing for a couple of days. i'm not sure if it's completely healed yet because it's gone a couple of days with nothing before and then scabbed up again. I did clean with alcohol and then applied some Wishgarden CordCare. My midwife assured me it was normal and fine. I think that it's ok as long as it isn't actively bleeding (I mean blood actually flowing out of it) or pussy, swollen or smelly.

[tooraloora]

That happened with my DS around the same time. I may have freaked a little and took him to the ER... He was fine.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by tooraloora 

That happened with my DS around the same time. I may have freaked a little and took him to the ER... He was fine.

don't be embarrassed. if this weren't my 4th baby, i probably would have rushed to the ER, too. i still freaked out over it inside and searched the internet incessantly. i just called my midwife before doing anything else.

[matte]

Happened to mine too. No biggie. Got a little crusty and oozy, and made some ooze marks on his diaper. His cord actually fell off right before my 1 wk well baby check-up and the practitioner told me just to keep it clean and continue to act as if it hadn't fallen off: sponge, not tub baths; fold down diaper. That's just until it stops being crusty. If blood actually FLOWS out you'll need to go to the ER. That can be related to a vit K deficiency and some genetic predispositions. The doc told me that if i DID have to go to the ER (and it did not happen, and she said it's rare) they'd stop the bleeding and give a vit K injection. End of story.

So... don't worry, but do be careful about diapers subbing on the belly button until the crust is gone.

[iheartwren]

I would keep watching it - my DD's oozed for 2 months and the pediatrician ended up having to help the wound close.  There was no danger but it just wasn't healing on its own so he used silver nitrate I think and it healed right up.

[mad4mady]

dd had this for the first month. I took her to our ped and he told us to give her a bath everyday and that the water would help the area dry up. We didn't do anything else and it stopped bleeding and healed up within a week.

[holothuroidea]

The water would help the area dry up? 
 

Originally Posted by mad4mady 

dd had this for the first month. I took her to our ped and he told us to give her a bath everyday and that the water would help the area dry up. We didn't do anything else and it stopped bleeding and healed up within a week.

[mad4mady]

I know sounds strange but it worked!

[guatemama1]

Originally Posted by iheartwren 

I would keep watching it - my DD's oozed for 2 months and the pediatrician ended up having to help the wound close.  There was no danger but it just wasn't healing on its own so he used silver nitrate I think and it healed right up.

this is what we are dealing with right now, @5 weeks it still isn't closing, though not infected or anything, and our MW put silver nitrate on it yesterday... looks like it's closing now. sorta.

[thursday2]

We had this happen - fell off after only 7 days, seemed to be closed, no real leakage issues, and then at about 3 or 4 weeks it was crusted in blood.  The pediatrician told us to just keep it clean and as dry as possible and call if it got infected.  It was black with dried blood in the creases for a good week, but we never saw it bleeding and it eventually just went away with no problems.

[Erica McCarroll]

Arent' you all dried out after you take a shower?