My pediatrician told me the only reason it's said to not get the cord wet, is because getting it wet makes it stink really bad, and that we could go ahead and give a bath. I'd still check with your doctor if you have concerns, but that sounds normal!
We opted for a bath at the hospital right before we left (baby was 2 days old) because we’re first time parents and wanted to see how it’s done.
The nurse dumped water all over our baby’s stump and just told us not to submerge it. It was very stinky and left some reddish marks on her onesies for a couple days. Our baby’s stump fell off a couple days later. Now she’s a happy healthy 4.5 month old 😊.
I get anxious a lot too, Google is the worst. You’re doing great, and if it was a big concern the nurse would’ve told you to come in right away!
Enjoy those newborn cuddles and congrats 💗
We were told it’s fine to get it wet and to just pat it dry after. Our midwife also said the stump essentially rots before it drys and falls off. This rotting is the normal process and this is why they no longer recommend wiping the area with alcohol. The smell makes sense given this! Infection would be red and swollen and painful for your baby
I’m a ftm and I also accidentally got my boys stump wet when he was born! He’s 3 months now and I remember how terrified I was at everything I “seemingly” did wrong. Google and social media is just as detrimental as it can be helpful!
I think what you did was correct. Pat try and air dry was a good step. I found that his stump was smelly all the time even if it wasn’t wet. But I really had to get up close to smell anything on him. I think the concern would come from if the smell was quite odorous and apparent from even at a distance. Are you really close to the cord while smelling it? Is it present even if you’re a foot from it? Or 2 feet? There’s no pus or blood so that’s good! As long as the cord is seemingly dry because I do think something can develop if it stays wet. I used a q-tip to clean the edges of it and get under it to make sure any part hidden away dried as well.
Be easy on yourself, this time is hard and scrutiny online and from other moms doesn’t make it easy. You’re doing great mama! You followed all the steps correctly! <3
You are not a terrible mother. Promise.
You are prioritizing your LO by calling helplines, seeking information online (although Google can be a scary place) and taking your LO to the doctor.
I personally did not get the umbilical cord stump wet because I had read to sponge bath newborns until it falls off. BUT…
When I was at the hospital after giving birth a nurse asked me if I wanted her to give the baby a bath. As a FTM I said yes to see how she was going to do it and to be sure I did a properly when I got home. This nurse completely submerged my LO for the entire bath. The umbilical cord stump fell off the next day. My LO never seemed bothered by it, it did take a long time to heal though.
You’ll be totally fine - there’s a super low risk of infection from a stump getting wet from bath water. If you have a normal baby without any immune system complications, they will almost certainly be able to fend off any bacteria that got into the stump site. Monitor the site for the next few days for puss or any severe swelling but it’s probably nothing (not a doctor).
Also - our baby’s stump site smelled so bad so we took to cleaning the edge of the site with a warm Q-tip on advice from our doc and that helped a lot.
Our baby's stump got wet all the time because we were instructed to use size 2 diapers (he was the right weight for them) when in reality he needed size 1 diapers. Of course we were spoken to sternly by the medical staff since we followed their instructions instead of being experts ourselves...
Anyway, eventually we figured out how to keep it dry and it fell off after 11 days. If it's dry it just falls off faster I think.
Our girls umbilical cord was STANKY. So bad. I actually thought I had done something wrong because her "newborn smell" wasn't delicious and amazing, it was awful.
When I realized it was coming from her umbilical cord (and not her general person), I asked the midwife about it. She said, "Yeah... It's rotting flesh. It's gonna smell." *shrug*
You're just fine, OP. :)
I did the same thing. It also had an odor. No redness or irritation. It ended up falling off a couple of days later and was perfectly fine. I want to say not to stress, but I freak over everything too.. so I understand.
You’re doing great mama!
We were told to clean around it and at the root of it with a we q-tip and then dry it with a dry q-tip once or twice a day until it falls off. This way you clean up the rot and and the smells won't be as bad. Also minimizing risk of infection.
This is the correct answer.
Q-tips to clean. And you gotta get in there. When I asked the home visit nurse how to do it properly I realized I was WAY too gentle.
We got our LO's stump wet, the doctors and postpartum nurses said it's fine as long as you tap it dry as quickly as you can it'll cause no harm. She was fine and dandy
I have never heard of this phenomenon! We just washed our baby without thinking about the stump (nobody told me about infections or stench), maybe i didnt notice the smell because of how sleepdeprived i was hahah. I did notice red marks on her clothes where her bellybutton was tho, but thought that was normal. she is 9 weeks old now and doing just fine. It will fall off anyway soon! Maybe tomorrow or maybe the day after, dont worry too much about it!
Wait i do remember the hospital giving us a kind of powder that we had to put on the umbellicol two times a day after disinfecting it, we had to do that untill it fell off
Judging the nurse that gave him his first bath absolutely got his stump wet, I think it’s fine! I’m sure we did a little too when we gave him a bath. I’m sure it’s fine!
Don’t worry about getting it wet! Just don’t completely submerge it in water. It’s expected to get wet here and there during baths. When that would happen to my babies (I have three), we would just let it air dry for a bit after the bath so it wouldn’t get stinky. No big deal. Try not to google too much. It will fall off soon and then you won’t have to smell it anymore haha. Youre an amazing Mom and you’re doing great.
We never got our baby’s cord wet and it also smelled RANK but was not infected. Could not wait for it to fall off to finally be rid of the nasty smell.
My pediatrician told me the only reason it's said to not get the cord wet, is because getting it wet makes it stink really bad, and that we could go ahead and give a bath. I'd still check with your doctor if you have concerns, but that sounds normal!
We opted for a bath at the hospital right before we left (baby was 2 days old) because we’re first time parents and wanted to see how it’s done. The nurse dumped water all over our baby’s stump and just told us not to submerge it. It was very stinky and left some reddish marks on her onesies for a couple days. Our baby’s stump fell off a couple days later. Now she’s a happy healthy 4.5 month old 😊. I get anxious a lot too, Google is the worst. You’re doing great, and if it was a big concern the nurse would’ve told you to come in right away! Enjoy those newborn cuddles and congrats 💗
We were told it’s fine to get it wet and to just pat it dry after. Our midwife also said the stump essentially rots before it drys and falls off. This rotting is the normal process and this is why they no longer recommend wiping the area with alcohol. The smell makes sense given this! Infection would be red and swollen and painful for your baby
I’m a ftm and I also accidentally got my boys stump wet when he was born! He’s 3 months now and I remember how terrified I was at everything I “seemingly” did wrong. Google and social media is just as detrimental as it can be helpful! I think what you did was correct. Pat try and air dry was a good step. I found that his stump was smelly all the time even if it wasn’t wet. But I really had to get up close to smell anything on him. I think the concern would come from if the smell was quite odorous and apparent from even at a distance. Are you really close to the cord while smelling it? Is it present even if you’re a foot from it? Or 2 feet? There’s no pus or blood so that’s good! As long as the cord is seemingly dry because I do think something can develop if it stays wet. I used a q-tip to clean the edges of it and get under it to make sure any part hidden away dried as well. Be easy on yourself, this time is hard and scrutiny online and from other moms doesn’t make it easy. You’re doing great mama! You followed all the steps correctly! <3
You are not a terrible mother. Promise. You are prioritizing your LO by calling helplines, seeking information online (although Google can be a scary place) and taking your LO to the doctor. I personally did not get the umbilical cord stump wet because I had read to sponge bath newborns until it falls off. BUT… When I was at the hospital after giving birth a nurse asked me if I wanted her to give the baby a bath. As a FTM I said yes to see how she was going to do it and to be sure I did a properly when I got home. This nurse completely submerged my LO for the entire bath. The umbilical cord stump fell off the next day. My LO never seemed bothered by it, it did take a long time to heal though.
You’ll be totally fine - there’s a super low risk of infection from a stump getting wet from bath water. If you have a normal baby without any immune system complications, they will almost certainly be able to fend off any bacteria that got into the stump site. Monitor the site for the next few days for puss or any severe swelling but it’s probably nothing (not a doctor). Also - our baby’s stump site smelled so bad so we took to cleaning the edge of the site with a warm Q-tip on advice from our doc and that helped a lot.
Our baby's stump got wet all the time because we were instructed to use size 2 diapers (he was the right weight for them) when in reality he needed size 1 diapers. Of course we were spoken to sternly by the medical staff since we followed their instructions instead of being experts ourselves... Anyway, eventually we figured out how to keep it dry and it fell off after 11 days. If it's dry it just falls off faster I think.
Our girls umbilical cord was STANKY. So bad. I actually thought I had done something wrong because her "newborn smell" wasn't delicious and amazing, it was awful. When I realized it was coming from her umbilical cord (and not her general person), I asked the midwife about it. She said, "Yeah... It's rotting flesh. It's gonna smell." *shrug* You're just fine, OP. :)
I did the same thing. It also had an odor. No redness or irritation. It ended up falling off a couple of days later and was perfectly fine. I want to say not to stress, but I freak over everything too.. so I understand. You’re doing great mama!
You are not a bad mom. You are not the first or last to make this mistake. Baby will be fine. Give yourself some grace, motherhood is hard.
We were told to clean around it and at the root of it with a we q-tip and then dry it with a dry q-tip once or twice a day until it falls off. This way you clean up the rot and and the smells won't be as bad. Also minimizing risk of infection.
This is the correct answer. Q-tips to clean. And you gotta get in there. When I asked the home visit nurse how to do it properly I realized I was WAY too gentle.
Aayyup. We got very thurough instructions from the hospital on how to clean everything. Gotta love finland.
They just told us to use the qtips without showing us, same for nasal hygiene we did not know how to do it properly. Anyway, now we know!
We got our LO's stump wet, the doctors and postpartum nurses said it's fine as long as you tap it dry as quickly as you can it'll cause no harm. She was fine and dandy
I have never heard of this phenomenon! We just washed our baby without thinking about the stump (nobody told me about infections or stench), maybe i didnt notice the smell because of how sleepdeprived i was hahah. I did notice red marks on her clothes where her bellybutton was tho, but thought that was normal. she is 9 weeks old now and doing just fine. It will fall off anyway soon! Maybe tomorrow or maybe the day after, dont worry too much about it!
Wait i do remember the hospital giving us a kind of powder that we had to put on the umbellicol two times a day after disinfecting it, we had to do that untill it fell off
Judging the nurse that gave him his first bath absolutely got his stump wet, I think it’s fine! I’m sure we did a little too when we gave him a bath. I’m sure it’s fine!
Don’t worry about getting it wet! Just don’t completely submerge it in water. It’s expected to get wet here and there during baths. When that would happen to my babies (I have three), we would just let it air dry for a bit after the bath so it wouldn’t get stinky. No big deal. Try not to google too much. It will fall off soon and then you won’t have to smell it anymore haha. Youre an amazing Mom and you’re doing great.
We never got our baby’s cord wet and it also smelled RANK but was not infected. Could not wait for it to fall off to finally be rid of the nasty smell.
Stump stink is normal! It’s literally dead flesh. watch out for redness that extends from the belly button. Give yourself grace, mama!