[JamieCatheryn]

My DS and I were talking this morning, it had suddenly occured to me anything you put on a newborn's cord stump is practically mainlined to the body. He told me isopropal (rubbing) alcohol is toxic because the bonds are easily broken down, therefore making the liver work hard and in huge amounts shutting it down. Then we realized that would tie the liver up and keeps it from dealing with other things: free radicals (bilirubin). My question to you is this: did you apply alcohol to your baby's cord stump to clean it like the doctors say to, and did your child get jaudiced? I want to see if there's a connection here.

 

[EmilyS]

Our midwife and pediatrician said NOT to put rubbing alcohol but just to keep it dry until it fell off. DD still got jaundice but not that badly...

 

[laurita]

The hospital, our pediatrician, and our midwife said there was no need to put alcohol on the stump because the cord would fall off on its own. A month later, the cord was still hanging on and the pediatrician suggested we start using alcohol to help dry it out. I put alcohol on it a few times, and a week later I accidentally knocked the cord stump off.

So we used a little bit of alcohol and had no jaundice problems.

Laura

 

[ripcurlgirl26]

We were told to use rubbing alcohol and we did

: . DS was never jaundiced at all.

 

[nighten]

I wish we hadn't used rubbing alcohol, but we did, and no jaundice here, well, nothing that required any treatment. She did get a tiny bit yellowy after a week or so but it went away in a day or two, so I chose the first option.

(I think the cord would've fallen off a lot faster if we hadn't used any alcohol though -- it was on for several weeks.)

 

[sheandaru]

All three of mine were jaundiced, & had different cord stump experiences.

 

[Lynnseedoil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmilyS Our midwife and pediatrician said NOT to put rubbing alcohol but just to keep it dry until it fell off. DD still got jaundice but not that badly...

Same here.

 

[Blue Lotus]

We just washed the stump with salt water. No alcohol, no jaundice!

 

[MsElle07]

We didn't use any alcohol. My second child had very mild jaundice that cleared on its own.

 

[mamanurse]

Dd had pretty significant jaundice and we never did anything to her cord. She karate chopped it off during a diaper change at 5 days old.

 

[eirual]

We used nothing on the stump and were told DS looked a *little* yellow/jaundice, but it was certainly nothing major and cleared up on its own in a few days (I voted no alcohol, jaundice??)

 

[runes]

dd had very slight jaundice, nothing mama's milk and nakey time in the sun couldn't take care of in a few days. no alcohol but we used an herbal goldenseal cord care powder on the stump.

 

[BennyPai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kidspiration dd had very slight jaundice, nothing mama's milk and nakey time in the sun couldn't take care of in a few days. no alcohol but we used an herbal goldenseal cord care powder on the stump.

We used the powder for dd2 & will be using it again if we have another baby in the future.

 

[Mama Poot]

We used rubbing alcohol on DS#1 and he was jaundiced. I do not, however, believe that was the cause of his jaundice. I was severely engorged and he was not able to truly latch on and nurse for a solid week, therefore he wasn't getting much to flush out his little system.

We used peroxide with #2, he never was jaundiced-but I never had a problem nursing him and had a drug-free home birth. Also, it took forever for #1's stump to fall off and we were religious about using the alcohol. #2's stump fell off in one week, and that was with occasional use of the peroxide. So I think anyone who tells you using alcohol makes it fall off faster is full of crap

 

[LeosMama]

We had the normal amount of jaundice and did use alcohol on his cord. It wasn't drying out, though, so we stopped using it b/c the alchohol was just keeping it wet. Once we stopped the alcohol, it fell off within a day or two.

 

[~Ryleigh's Mommy~]

I never used alcohol. Just rinsed it with sterile water once a day. She got jaundice and had to be under the bili lights.
Actually I am wondering if it is because we waited so long to cut the cord, she got all that extra blood. Jaundice is caused when all the extra blood cells break down, so maybe the more extra blood that's in their system, the higher chance of jaundice???
The stump fell of in 2 weeks.

I wanted to add something about putting powder on the stump:
There was a case of a newborn baby with tetanus a few yrs back. They traced it to a powder the MW had given them to put on the stump. The powder was unsterile and had tetanus bacteria.
Never put anything unsterile on the umbilical cord.

~Melissa~

 

[Steve's Wife]

We used alcohol a few times and dd was a tad jaundiced, but nothing that required treatment. We were told to treat with alcohol but we forgot most times. It fell off a 12 days after birth with no problems.

 

[Catherine12]

With dd, I used alchohol just once or twice then switched to betadine. With ds, I used tea tree oil. dd was slightly jaundiced but didn't need any special treatrment. ds was amazingly unjaundiced.

Tea tree oil can be a bit harsh though. I think if we have another I would use betadine. Slight chance of allergy, but it's milder than alchohol or tea tree oil and less toxic than alchohol too.

 

[babygrant]

we never used rubbing alcohol...or anything for that matter and ds had bad jaundice and was under the billi lights for 2 days.

 

[djinneyah]

can't remember what i did with ds, but i know he was jaundiced...

dd, OTOH, the only thing i put on her stump was breastmilk...healed up and fell off on it's own at about 5 days...no jaundice.