Roshan's Blog: Newborn Cord Care

Written Friday, January 29th 2010 by Administrator

Roshan's Blog: Newborn Cord Care

At the beginning of my career as a nurse, I worked in the maternity unit in the United Kingdom. The goal amongst us nurses was to send a baby home with the umbilical cord stump off.

Of course, back then new moms stayed in the hospital for a week so there was every opportunity to provide good, frequent cord care to achieve this goal. Cord care meant cleaning the base of the cord stump at every diaper change with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to avoid infection from occurring and to enable the stump to fall off within a week of birth.

Today’s new parents are home within 48 hours with the umbilical cord stump still attached to the baby’s belly. If this is the case, it is good to regularly clean the cord stump with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab at every diaper change to prevent infection and help dry out the stump. A cotton swab is usually the easiest way to clean the umbilical cord since it can reach further into the belly button.
Over the next few days the stump will begin to dry out and get smaller and smaller. You can expect the shriveled stump to fall off within a week giving you one less thing to worry about.

-Roshan

Roshan Kaderali is a registered nurse, midwife, lactation specialist and CEO of Baby's Bliss^® and Mommy's Bliss^®. Originally from Tanzania and later a resident of Scotland, she has lived permanently in America for over thirty-five years. You can read more about Roshan here.

Tagged as Roshan's Blog
Written Friday, January 29th 2010 by Administrator
More articles