smelly newborn cord?

[laurelavenue]

Charlotte is now 13 days old and we have just noticed today that her cord, which still hasn't fallen off, has a mildly unpleasant odor and a little bit of fluid around it. We have been swabbing it faithfully with the alcohol pads, but it still seems to have gotten irritated somehow, and maybe even infected. She will be seeing the pediatrician about it in the morning, but was wondering if any of you have experienced cord problems like this, and if so, how they were cleared up.

[mama2walden&luna]

Ours didn't get infected, but very irritated from the clamp pulling on it. We had the midwife take the clamp off and she said to clean it with hydrogen peroxide instead of alcohol because it would help better if any infection had started to set it. She also said to let it get plenty of air, which we did. Now the cord is fine, fell of yesterday, and the belly button is healing.

[danotoyou2]

I think it's not uncommon. It IS a piece of dead flesh, so it's normal for it to get smelly. The main thing is to watch for redness and fluids. If there is some fluids, it could be the beginning of an infection.

For tonight, just keep it clean and dry. Hopefully it'll fall off soon and you won't have to smell it anymore! With DS, it was such a relief when it fell off, because the thing had been driving me nuts with the smell. It's not fun to show off your baby to someone and have him smelling like a turd.

[artgirl]

my ds's cord got like that. I kept wondering what was interfering with his newborn smell and it was the cord. Yuck. We had also cleaned it faithfully but obviously not agressively enough. You really have to get down there and get the base cleaned. Anyway, the ped. cauterized it. She assured me that it wouldn't hurt. I don't remember ds crying when she did it but it seems to me that it must've stung.

[queendom lady]

we were told not to clean the cord w anything and it fell off on its own yesterday. the whole day before though it stunk! we calledc the ped and he said don't worry unless its oozing...yuck. she's so perfect but that stump was grossing me out!

[Juvysen]

Oliver's cord was like that right before it fell off. Stinky, stinky, stinky. His skin was not red, though, so I knew it wasn't an infection, it's just the rotten cord stump. Luckily that goes away when the cord falls off

[QueenOfThePride]

With my first baby, I was told not to clean it with anything, and by a week and a half it was stinky and gooey. I brought him in, and was told by another doctor to swab it with alcohol on a Q-tip several times a day to keep it clean. I used witch hazel instead and it fell off in a few more days, even though it still left grossness in the belly button that took a while to clean out and completely heal.

[mamamoo]

Originally Posted by queendom lady

we were told not to clean the cord w anything and it fell off on its own yesterday. the whole day before though it stunk! we calledc the ped and he said don't worry unless its oozing...yuck. she's so perfect but that stump was grossing me out!

With my last 3 babies I was told to not clean it with anything, just keep it dry. Alcohol is a preservative, and the one kiddo i used it on took a month for his cord to fall off, the last three with nothing have taken less than a week, we are on day three here, and it looks ready to fall off anytime.