My newborn is 5 days old. I have been cleaning her umbilical cord stump with alcohol every time I changed her diaper since she was born (like the hospital reccomends). I made the mistake of giving her a bath & letting it get wet & now it is trying to come off prematurely & there is some blood. I rubbed neosporin on it & covered it with a band-aid. Does anyone have any advice for me before I can get her in to see the doctor tomorrow?
2006-08-20 08:28:06 · 7 answers · asked by Mommy Kai 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Actually, our hospital said that there was no real difference between cleaning with alcohol, cleaning with water, or not cleaning it at all. The alcohol doesn't really help it to dry out faster. I gave my boy regular baths and didn't use alcohol and his stump fell off pretty quickly and without incident. But you always need to keep it exposed so that it can dry out. Which means the bandaid may not be a good idea. Btw, we didn't get it soaked or anything, but it would end up getting a little wet and soft.
If it was actively bleeding, which means you wipe away the blood and more comes out, then you need to call the doctor right away. If there was just a little blood but it was not actively bleeding, then that may not be a premature thing. Even an umbilical cord that isn't coming off prematurely will sometimes have a small amount of blood or yellow discharge. If there isn't a lot (more than the tip of a swab) then it's normal.
2006-08-20 09:29:50 · answer #1 · answered by criticalcatalyst 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't want your baby to get an infection, so the sooner you see the doctor, the better. Meanwhile, do NOT put Neosporin or Vaseline on the stump. That's going to keep it wet and you want it to dry out. It will also promote infection. Take it off and clean it once with alcohol and cover it loosely with a sterile gauze pad. Then leave it alone until you see the doctor.
I'm not sure why the hospital told you to clean the stump with alcohol with every diaper change. The newest way and best way of promoting healing of the stump is to leave the cord alone and maybe clean it once a day with alcohol (maybe!) The cord stumps fall off a lot faster if you don't clean it with alcohol.
Hope your baby's doing fine!
2006-08-20 15:59:52 · answer #2 · answered by Answers to Nurse 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Don't cover it with a bandaid. Continue to use those newborn diapers, with the cutout for the cord stump. Cover her in a onesie that snaps around the bottom, and her normal gown.
Continue to use the neosporin. I would hold off using the alcohol until it stops bleeding. Putting alcohol on an open sore would cause more pain.
It'll dry up again. Stumps do bleed a little when they start to fall off.
2006-08-20 23:47:00 · answer #3 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Unless it is bleeding very badly, I wouldn't put a band-aid on it. Probably tomorrow you doctor may recommend putting some silver compound of some sort on it. I had a similar problem with my son and his doctor put this silver stuff on it and it dried right up. If it is bleeding really bad, though, you should probably take her to the emergency room right away.
2006-08-20 15:39:23 · answer #4 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just keep it clean, like you're doing with the alcohol and putting the neosporin, or even vaseline, on it. Not to worry. It'll be fine.
2006-08-20 15:36:42 · answer #5 · answered by rcrbsll 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to let it air dry! Since you gave him a bath.. and let water get into it... you have basically prolonged it since it needs to be DRY... so get the bandaid off and make sure to let it air dry... as long as the blood was only a few drops and not oozing out.. if it is then call your dr ASAP! Just make sure to make it dry.......
2006-08-20 17:54:10 · answer #6 · answered by nknicolek 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would recommend contacting your doctor NOW to see if this is something that should be dealt with before tomorrow.
2006-08-20 15:34:19 · answer #7 · answered by Road Warrior 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋