Cord "care"--remind me? « Back to Group Discussions

[justKate]

After DD's birth, she was in the NICU for 3 weeks and I didn't do any of her "care"--diapers, bath, cord, washing in general, barely feeding. 

With this one, I'm going to do it whether she's in the NICU or not, because I'm not intimidated anymore.  So that brings up the question--is any "cord care" required?  It seems like you can just keep it dry and it should fall off in its own time--is that right, or does something need to be applied to it?  Geez I wish I could remember these things!

[flavorfull1]

i didnt do anything and just let mine dry up on their own and fall off. dd's fell off on day 3, ds's tooka little longer. some people use alcohol or another herbal thing i cant remember.

[usagi629]

I didn't do anything either, DS's dried up quickly on its own and fell off... then the cat got after it. O.O

I did read in the big postpartum thread about using powdered goldenseal (I think that's what it was), so I did order some when I ordered some other things mentioned in that thread. Honestly, I'm not really sure how to use it though.

[AiryFairy]

I left it alone until it was detaching and a little goopy and smelly; I dropped a couple drops of breast milk  during diaper changes which seemed to help. 

[Tulafina]

I use goldenseal powder:) Just open a capsule and apply it with a qtip. It keeps it from getting wet and icky underneath and it dries the cord a bit faster. I found it worked really well with DS2's and DS3's cords. We have very deep bellybuttons on this family...so it can take 2-3 weeks for everything to dry and heal under the cord stump. By the 3 week mark...it reaks!! LOL You can also use calendula ticture. Alcohol is a no-no as it very drying. And some people use nothing and have zero issues with the cord. I would just play it by ear:)

[justKate]

Would a liquid goldenseal tincture work? Like the kind that comes with a dropper? For some reason that seems simpler to me.

[Tulafina]

I've never seen the liquid...not too sure. I think the reason it works so well(the powder) is because it really helps dry it out whereas the liquid doesn't have the same effect. If I were to use a liquid, I would use calendula tincture. But again it's hard to find tinctures that aren't made with alcohol...

[usagi629]

I think with DS, I did clean it out with a q-tip AFTER it fell out. I think it may have fallen out earlier than it otherwise would have because of the thirsties CD covers rubbing against it. :-\

At any rate, he was crusty inside his button and there was some dried blood, etc. so I used the q-tip to clean him out... I don't recall if I just used water or if I actually used alcohol. :-?

[moss]

there were a couple of people on that big postpartum thread that said their babies cords fell off after 3 days with the goldenseal powder.  sounds good to me.  :)  i might clean with alcohol or h2o2 and then sprinkle the powder on.  

ds1's cord took forever to fall off (3 weeks) and it was so gross and yucky. we didnt do anything special with it.  

[AiryFairy]

Aries lost his on day 4.  Day 3 it was halfway + and a little smelly which is when I started treating it with breast milk.  If it counts for anything, I did get it wet in the bath on his 2nd day.  My girls lost theirs on day 5 and day 6 or 7, without any special care.