Umbilical cord of a newborn
A nurse usually removes a plastic clip from the child's umbilical cord after twenty-four hours after birth. In the first few days, the stump of the umbilical cord can be swollen and reminiscent of jelly. Over the next few days, it begins to wither and shrivel and usually disappears in a week or two. To prevent inflammation and help the process of drying the umbilical cord, treat the area around the stump, entering the indentation, with a cotton swab, dipping it into alcohol or the antiseptic solution your doctor recommended three times a day. After the stump completely disappears, continue this hygienic care for a few more days. There is nothing to worry about if you see a few drops of blood on the day the stump disappears.
If there is pus from your baby's umbilical stump and / or an increasingly unpleasant odor emanates, consult a doctor who may dip a solution with silver nitrate so that the stump dries out better. The slight odor coming from the drying stump is a normal phenomenon, but a particularly sharp smell can be an indication that there is inflammation and that it is high time to use an antiseptic solution more often. If the skin around the drying stump looks
normal and not inflamed, there is usually no cause for concern. A sign of an infection when you need to call a doctor is a red, hot, swollen and painful area the size of a large coin around the base of the umbilical cord.
To avoid irritating the umbilical cord, do not cover it with a diaper or plastic panties and, if using diapers, be especially careful and bend the plastic away from the umbilical cord region. It is dangerous or not to immerse the child in water, until the umbilical cord falls off, causes much controversy. Some pediatricians are convinced that if the umbilical cord is wet, the risk of infection increases;others think otherwise. If pus flows from the base of the umbilical cord, it is dangerous to immerse the child in a bath with water, because bacteria will enter the water and the infection will be spread. In this case, wash the baby with a sponge until the umbilical cord disappears and the umbilical wound does not fully heal.