He umbilical cord in the newborn It is something like the last thing left of the internal physical union between the baby and his mother. It remains for a few days, drying, until it falls and although there is not much to be done to make that happen, some recommendations must be taken into account.
The most frequent doubts are: When to cure it? How to do it? Can I bathe the baby or is it better to wait? What to do in case it looks bad? What to do when it has already fallen? So next we will talk about all this.
When to cut it
Before going into detail in our function as fathers and mothers taking care of our baby and her cord, I briefly tell you a very interesting and important point about the moment when it is recommended to cut the cord after birth.
You will have seen in the movies that once the baby is born the first thing that is done is to clamp the shoelace, if it can be with the shoelaces of a shoe so that the thing is more exciting, and immediately cut it, as to save the baby's life and Mother.
We all thought that this was logical and necessary, until a few years ago this practice began to be questioned and numerous studies began to show that no, that it is advisable to wait a little.
Already in Babies and more We talked about it by commenting on some of these studies, and WHO also suggests that it is advisable to wait between 60 and 180 seconds after birth, so that the baby has a lower need for blood transfusion (and less likely to suffer from anemia) and a lower risk of intraventricular hemorrhage.
The care of the newborn's cord
Once born, donated or not donated, cut before or after, the portion of the cord that is attached to the baby remains there, leaving its belly button, cool at first, until, a few days later, dry and mummified, falls . Typically, it falls within the first week, but sometimes it takes two to three weeks.
One of the usual recommendations is to cure it with 70 degree alcohol, both alone and in combination with an antiseptic such as chlorhexidine.
The reality is that it has been seen that this makes the cord take more days to fall, and the evidence seems to be showing that the best way to heal the newborn's cord is to keep it clean and dry. That is, make sponge baths to the baby keeping the cord more or less dry. This will fall before there is no more risk of infection.
This has been known for a few years. In a review of studies conducted by WHO in 2004, which included 22 studies with 8,959 babies, they saw that it was indifferent how the navel will heal when comparing the use of antiseptic with dry cord care.
That is, those parents who did nothing but keep the baby's cord dry had the same prognosis (the same number of cord infections in the baby) as those who cured it with an antiseptic or a placebo, and the cord fell before.
However, the review authors considered that more evidence was needed and that in those places where the risk of bacterial infection is high (where there is poor hygiene, poor diet, etc.), an antiseptic is used.
Can I bathe the child if the cord has not yet been dropped?
Yes, you can bathe the baby when the cord has not yet fallen, although considering that the interesting thing is that it dries, it seems that the most logical thing is not to do so. In case of bathing it, the important thing is to dry the cord with gauze well, so that it is clean and dry. In case of not bathing it with immersion of the body, we can do the so-called cat wash, with sponge, water and a little speed.
What if it looks bad?
In case it smells bad, there are secretions or blood (that stains some blood on the shirt is normal, but if we see that it is bleeding, no) we should go to the pediatrician, since we probably have to use antibiotics to avoid infection thereof. If you bleed, it is recommended to put gauze and pressure on the bleeding site to contain the bleeding (and also go to the pediatrician for evaluation).
What to do when the umbilical cord has already fallen?
Observe how the navel has been, since there may be a small granuloma (like a piece of fresh cord of variable size, which can be the size of a chickpea) that must be dried and dropped again and that we should treat again as if it were the cord. In such a case, it may be interesting to go to the nurse to have an eye (without haste), in case you consider the use of silver nitrate to help reduce the size of the granuloma and reduce the risk of infection.
If there is no granuloma it is recommended to continue controlling the cord for a few more days. In my health center we say that on the second day of falling they start to bathe it if they want, everything depends on whether they were already bathing it or not, because if they did the only thing they should continue doing is keep the area dry.
What if it still stains?
Sometimes it happens that the cord has already fallen, we try to open the navel hole to see if there is any cord left and, seeing nothing, let's see that sometimes the shirt or diaper is still stained with a few drops of blood. The usual recommendation is to clean until it stops happening, but in my personal experience and in the consultation it worked better for me do nothing. That is, let a little blood come out, the navel area is stained, dry, and instead of removing that dried blood, leave it to stop. The cord does not bleed anymore and one day that "little crust" falls and that's it.
Photos | Thinkstock On Babies and more | How to cure the umbilical cord, Complications from umbilical cord infection, Wait three minutes to cut the umbilical cord, beneficial for the baby's health
