Caring for your baby’s umbilical cord stump

Having a plastic thing attached to umbilicus can be startling and unarguably the most frightening thing for parents of newborn kiddies. There are lots of questions, myths and queries in parents’ mind about same. We would like to clear it once again as there may be various opinions in medical fraternity as well.

• As soon as cord is clamped, plastic clip is put on the umbilicus to prevent bleeding. I must tell you that it’s a painless structure so nothing to be worried of. The clip with the remnant of umbilicus gets shed off on ots own between day 7 and day 14. Once it gets shed off, there can be a bit of ooze, pus or watery discharge.
• You can clean it with moist cotton and then wipe it with dry cotton. The recommendations is to clean with Chlorhexidene but in my experience if the delivery is happening in a clean place, merely keeping it dry will do the trick.
• In case there is foul smelling discharge or excessive bleeding or persisting beyond 3 weeks or in any doubt, don’t hesitate to visit your Paediatrician.

I hope this was able to address your concerns. In case, there is anything else that’s on your mind, you can always consult your Paediatrician