stinky belly button on newborn...???

Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!

oregonchick wrote:
Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!

Using a cotton swab, gently run around the stump with some rubbing
alcohol. You're going to want to GENTLY tug the stump in the opposite
direction (so if you're swabbing at 12 o'clock, you're gently pulling
the stump in the direction of 6 o'clock) so that you expose the yellow,
cruddy, wet part that's under the brown, cruddy part. You're aiming to
get the rubbing alcohol on the yellow part.

Do this a couple times a day, and see if she still stinks in a couple
days. If so, I'd take her in, but I'd imagine that it only stinks
because it's getting ready to fall off.

Amy

"Amy" wrote in message
ups.com...

oregonchick wrote:
Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the
stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put
on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it
to
fall off!

Using a cotton swab, gently run around the stump with some rubbing
alcohol. You're going to want to GENTLY tug the stump in the opposite
direction (so if you're swabbing at 12 o'clock, you're gently pulling
the stump in the direction of 6 o'clock) so that you expose the yellow,
cruddy, wet part that's under the brown, cruddy part. You're aiming to
get the rubbing alcohol on the yellow part.

Do this a couple times a day, and see if she still stinks in a couple
days. If so, I'd take her in, but I'd imagine that it only stinks
because it's getting ready to fall off.

Amy

It's so gross! You have this beautiful little baby, and then this stinky
ugly stump... I remember they told me to use rubbing alcohol on my first
daughter 8 yrs ago, but this time around they told me not to. I was
wondering, will the rubbing alcohol sting like it does when you put it on an
open wound?

Betsy

"oregonchick" wrote in message
...
It's so gross! You have this beautiful little baby, and then this stinky
ugly stump... I remember they told me to use rubbing alcohol on my first
daughter 8 yrs ago, but this time around they told me not to. I was
wondering, will the rubbing alcohol sting like it does when you put it on
an
open wound?

I was told 10.5 years ago to use alcohol, and 9 years ago *not* to, and 3
years ago when I had my last baby I was fussed at for not using it! It's
weird how it changes so much. The babies don't act like it stings but I
still hated doing it and had dh do it.
Marie

oregonchick wrote:
Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!



Alcohol kills the bacteria that helps the stump to fall off. If there
is no redness, it probably isn't infected. If it makes you feel better,
use the alcohol, but you might be prolonging the detatchment. My DS
cord fell off on day 3! It did smell just before falling off, too.

Jo

oregonchick wrote:

It's so gross! You have this beautiful little baby, and then this stinky
ugly stump...

I know! I found it kind of sad, too... It was like the last evidence
of her physical attachment to me was going away. I'm weird, though,
and then I remembered that we're nursing, so she'll be physically
attached, intermittently, for a while yet.

I remember they told me to use rubbing alcohol on my first
daughter 8 yrs ago, but this time around they told me not to. I was
wondering, will the rubbing alcohol sting like it does when you put it on an
open wound?

Mine didn't show any sign of pain. In fact, she seemed kind of curious
about what we were doing. Just be very, very careful not to pull too
hard on the stump. I guess you could sort of think of it as a loose
tooth... It's going to fall out, but if you tug at it you're going to
cause more trouble than if you just wait.

We were told by the nurses in the hospital to use alcohol, but our
doctor said not to, and then he changed his mind at one of her early
weight-check appointments and said "it wouldn't hurt if you did..."
Medical "science" isn't always very scientific, I guess, and the trends
change, sometimes in a short amount of time. The main thing is that
you don't want an infection there, because it's a central line right
into her little system. It would be pretty bad, I think.

Is it looking/smelling any better today? I'm sure that it'll fall out
soon.

Amy

I found a good picture he

http://pregnancy.about.com/od/newbor...cordcare_5.htm

It's that yellow area at "12 o'clock" that you're after. The other
page in the series also says that any foul odor warrants a call to your
ped ASAP, so you might want to give them a yell today.

Amy

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..
Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!


That's normal and I would not mess with it. -- Dagny

Amy wrote:
oregonchick wrote:

Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!


Using a cotton swab, gently run around the stump with some rubbing
alcohol. You're going to want to GENTLY tug the stump in the opposite
direction (so if you're swabbing at 12 o'clock, you're gently pulling
the stump in the direction of 6 o'clock) so that you expose the yellow,
cruddy, wet part that's under the brown, cruddy part. You're aiming to
get the rubbing alcohol on the yellow part.

Do this a couple times a day, and see if she still stinks in a couple
days. If so, I'd take her in, but I'd imagine that it only stinks
because it's getting ready to fall off.

DS's stump took a while to fall off, and got stinky while we were.
We asked the ped at his 2w check up, and they said it's because the
stump was staying too neatly on top of his belly button (even though
it was already loose, just holding on by a thread). They gave us
instructions like the above, and it fell off a couple (few?) days
later...

Emily
--
DS1 5/02
DS2 9/05

In article ,
"oregonchick" wrote:

Emily is 9 days old now. We've been taking care to keep the belly button
stump dry, and watching it for any sign of problem. I started to notice
today that something about her was stinky. I assumed her bottom, but
realized the odor was coming from the cord stump. There is no redness or
swelling, but it is starting to come off on one edge, and behind the stump
it looks gooey. ICK. Should I worry? Is there something I should put on
it? Does this warrant a call to the pediatrician? I can't wait for it to
fall off!

It's just the bit of dead meat going off. No need to worry unless there's
inflammation or a discharge. It will be off in a day or two, especially if
you bath her.

AFAIK there is no great magic in "keeping the cord dry" (apart from drying it
after baths, of course). I hear plastering it with cow dung is a bad idea,
but we're well-designed to cope with ordinary conditions.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.