Cord Care - Page 2

[pamamidwife]

I advise my clients to just keep it clean and relatively dry (I still say it's ok to bathe the little ones here and there while it's still attached!).

I don't use goldenseal any longer because 1) It's a nearly extinct plant. Oregon Grape Root is a wonderful substitute, but 2) any sort of powder has the risk of being inhaled by the little ones

I think that unless it's getting infected, leaving it alone is the best course. Since advising the nothing on it advice, most stumps fall off within the first 7 days.

[SaraC]

I voted "clean and dry" with Mary-Grace and hers fell off at about 4 days.

With Maddie, DD#1, I used alcohol and it took almost a whole month to fall off.

[bloodrayne]

Our midwife advised us not to put alcohol on it, to just leave it alone.

On the 4th night we noticed it was hanging by a thread.

We woke up on the 5th day and it came off in his clothes when he was getting his diaper changed.

[lilirose]

sorry, having to remove all posts with personal info due to an online stalker.

[Kiki Runs]

We kept it clean and dry, and DS's was still hanging in there at his one-month checkup. The PA looked at it and had the DR come in and look at it and we all decided to go ahead and use * something* (I can't remember - maybe silver nitrate? or is that what they used to put in eyes?) anyway, it was a neat thing to watch. The PA got out this container of what looked like Q-tips and ran one around the outer part of the bellybutton, and the Q-tip thingy got moist and we could see it leaving a trail of dark stuff on his cord.

They told us if it hadn't fallen off in a couple weeks, to come back, but it fell off the next day.

Dang!! Now that's going to bother me! Anyone know what that Q-tip thing was? She told me, but apparently my pregnancy brain is continuing for 2 + months post partum. :

Kinsey

[remynyc]

the first couple of days we would clean it once in a while, but our midwives then advised us to just leave it alone. about two weeks later i was putting a onesie on ds and when i pulled it down over the front of him some how i snagged the cord clamp and pulled it off!!!!! (man, i get chilled when i think back on it ). ds didn't seem to mind in the lease; he is now 5 months old and has a beautiful belly button.

[*Erin*]

ivoted other, b/c at first we used alcohol, and it didnt do anything
but make the cord stump gummy (ew) so i used peroxide on a q-tip, which helped tons. dd's never technically "fell off" it just kinda hung there for a MONTH till i had to cut of the slimy hangy bit, and then swab out her belly button with peroxide until the last bits came off. ew.

did anyone keep the stump? i did. even though it was kinda gross. :

[elaine]

i voted goldenseal, 8+ days

but I also used echinacea tincture, a drop here and there. this was at the recommendation of my direct entry midwife. Also I didn't do it the first 4 days cause I was in the hospital after a c/s.

I also did bathe with my baby at 1 week and noticed that seemed to speed it along.

He's 5 months and I like his inny.

[lilyka]

#1 and 33 were about 8-10 days,

number 2 was 32 freaking days. we did everything to try and get hers off. It just wouldn't budge and it was just long enough to be really irritating.

I kept the stumps and wish I had kept the whole cord.

[KFH]

My first child's stump fell of after SIX weeks!! I think that's the record on this thread. This new baby's stump fell off at 6 days. I was pretty negligent on cleaning this one. Sometimes it got alcohol once a day, sometimes a homeade baby wipe sometimes a wet washcloth. I don't think I ever did any of those things more than once a day!