How to care umbilical cord of a newborn
Umbilical cord care in newborns Information | Mount Sinai
Cord - umbilical; Neonatal care - umbilical cord
The umbilical cord connects the baby to the mother's placenta. During fetal development in the womb, the umbilical cord is the lifeline to the baby supplying nutrients. After birth, the cord is clamped and cut. Eventually between 1 to 3 weeks the cord will become dry and will naturally fall off. During the time the cord is healing it should be kept as clean and as dry as possible.
A sponge bath is the best way to clean your baby until the umbilical cord falls off. To give a sponge bath, dip a soft cloth in the warm water and wring out the excess. If needed, a mild soap can be used in the water. Wipe the baby's skin gently starting from the area of the baby's head and work your way down to the rest of the body. Pay special attention to the skin creases and diaper area. Rinse your baby with clean warm water and dry him or her completely.
Information
When your baby is born the umbilical cord is cut and there is a stump left. The stump should dry and fall off by the time your baby is 5 to 15 days old. Keep the stump clean with gauze and water only. Sponge bathe the rest of your baby, as well. Do not put your baby in a tub of water until the stump has fallen off.
Let the stump fall off naturally. Do not try to pull it off, even if it is only hanging on by a thread.
Watch the umbilical cord stump for infection. This does not occur often. But if it does, the infection can spread quickly.
Signs of a local infection at the stump include:
- Foul-smelling, yellow drainage from the stump
- Redness, swelling, or tenderness of the skin around the stump
Be aware of signs of a more serious infection. Contact your baby's health care provider immediately if your baby has:
- Poor feeding
- Fever of 100.
4°F (38°C) or higher - Lethargy
- Floppy, poor muscle tone
If the cord stump is pulled off too soon, it could start actively bleeding, meaning every time you wipe away a drop of blood, another drop appears. If the cord stump continues to bleed, call your baby's provider immediately.
Sometimes, instead of completely drying, the cord will form pink scar tissue called a granuloma. The granuloma drains a light-yellowish fluid. This will most often go away in about a week. If it does not, call your baby's provider.
If your baby's stump has not fallen off in 4 weeks (and more likely much sooner), call you baby's provider. There may be a problem with the baby's anatomy or immune system.
Esper F. Postnatal bacterial infections. In: Martin RJ, Fanaroff AA, Walsh MC, eds. Fanaroff and Martin's Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 48.
Nathan AT. The umbilicus. In: Kliegman RM, St. Geme JW, Blum NJ, Shah SS, Tasker RC, Wilson KM, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 21st ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 125.
Taylor JA, Wright JA, Woodrum D. Newborn nursery care. In: Gleason CA, Juul SE, eds. Avery's Diseases of the Newborn. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018:chap 26.
Wesley SE, Allen E, Bartsch H. Care of the newborn. In: Rakel RE, Rakel DP, eds. Textbook of Family Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2016:chap 21.
Last reviewed on: 12/10/2021
Reviewed by: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
Umbilical cord care in newborns: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
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When your baby is born the umbilical cord is cut and there is a stump left. The stump should dry and fall off by the time your baby is 5 to 15 days old. Keep the stump clean with gauze and water only. Sponge bathe the rest of your baby, as well. Do not put your baby in a tub of water until the stump has fallen off.
Let the stump fall off naturally. Do not try to pull it off, even if it is only hanging on by a thread.
Watch the umbilical cord stump for infection. This does not occur often. But if it does, the infection can spread quickly.
Signs of a local infection at the stump include:
- Foul-smelling, yellow drainage from the stump
- Redness, swelling, or tenderness of the skin around the stump
Be aware of signs of a more serious infection. Contact your baby's health care provider immediately if your baby has:
- Poor feeding
- Fever of 100.
4°F (38°C) or higher - Lethargy
- Floppy, poor muscle tone
If the cord stump is pulled off too soon, it could start actively bleeding, meaning every time you wipe away a drop of blood, another drop appears. If the cord stump continues to bleed, call your baby's provider immediately.
Sometimes, instead of completely drying, the cord will form pink scar tissue called a granuloma. The granuloma drains a light-yellowish fluid. This will most often go away in about a week. If it does not, call your baby's provider.
If your baby's stump has not fallen off in 4 weeks (and more likely much sooner), call you baby's provider. There may be a problem with the baby's anatomy or immune system.
Cord - umbilical; Neonatal care - umbilical cord
- Umbilical cord healing
- Sponge bath
Esper F. Postnatal bacterial infections. In: Martin RJ, Fanaroff AA, Walsh MC, eds. Fanaroff and Martin's Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.
11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 48.
Nathan AT. The umbilicus. In: Kliegman RM, St. Geme JW, Blum NJ, Shah SS, Tasker RC, Wilson KM, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 21st ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 125.
Taylor JA, Wright JA, Woodrum D. Newborn nursery care. In: Gleason CA, Juul SE, eds. Avery's Diseases of the Newborn. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018:chap 26.
Wesley SE, Allen E, Bartsch H. Care of the newborn. In: Rakel RE, Rakel DP, eds. Textbook of Family Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2016:chap 21.
Updated by: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
Daily care of a newborn » KGBUZ "Taimyrskaya MRB"
Basic procedures - we will talk about these basic procedures for caring for a newborn in our article.
When it comes time to return home with a newborn from the maternity hospital, every mother begins to worry about how she will take care of her child without the help and competent advice of medical staff. nine0005
Without exception, all mothers are worried about whether they can provide their child with the care necessary for his healthy growth: properly bathe the baby, cut off his nails, treat the umbilical wound.
Therefore, before mothers have time to cross the threshold of their home, they have many questions about caring for a child: is it worth washing the baby after each urination, what is the best way to treat the navel: brilliant green or calendula tincture?
Today we will try to find answers to the main questions about the hygiene of the child and talk about the basic procedures for daily care of the baby. nine0007 Newborn's morning toilet
Like every person, a baby should wash his face in the morning, of course, his mother should help him in this.
After the newborn wakes up, strip him naked, let him lie naked for a while - this is good for the baby's skin. Then carefully examine the baby, check for redness on the skin, prickly heat. If there is, then prepare a baby cream to lubricate problem areas after washing the baby.
The baby is washed with cotton pads soaked in warm boiled water. Washing the newborn is carried out from top to bottom. nine0007 Wipe your baby's eyes from the outer edge to the inner. For the hygiene of each eye, it is recommended to take a new cotton pad.
Gently wipe the baby's face with a damp cotton pad, the outside of the ears, the skin behind the ears, and the neck.
Listen to the baby's breathing, it should be free. If breathing is difficult, clear your baby's nose. To do this, you can use a special saline solution for children under one year old and an aspirator (a device that helps suck out mucus).
You can also use two small cotton swabs soaked in baby oil to remove scabs from your nose.
The flagella must be carefully inserted alternately into each nostril of the child's nose and scrolled several times. If the baby's nose breathes well, then it does not need to be cleaned. nine0007 Then it is necessary to wipe all the folds of the baby's skin with a damp cotton pad, change the child's dirty diaper to a clean one, washing the baby or using baby wipes to cleanse the skin.
Caring for the umbilical wound
During the newborn period, the umbilical wound is a special place on the body of a child, it requires careful care.
As a rule, the umbilical wound is treated once a day, this can be done after bathing, when all the crusts are soaked from the water and the mucus is washed out. nine0005
How to treat the navel of a newborn? There are several ways to treat the umbilical wound, each of them is quite effective: dry the navel for a few minutes;
nine0043 Advice on which navel cleaning method to use is usually given by the nurses at the maternity hospital, as well as by the health visitor who will visit your baby during the first month of life.
Important! If you notice that the skin around the umbilical wound is inflamed, be sure to consult a doctor.
If you see that the umbilical wound does not heal within a month, it is better to take the child to the doctor. Usually, up to 14 days of life, the umbilical residue disappears and the wound heals. nine0005
Washing the newborn
Wash your baby under running water after each bowel movement.
It is convenient to wash your newborn like this:
Place the baby on your stomach on your left palm facing you or with his back on your forearm with his head towards you.
Place the child's lower body under running water.
Lather baby's buttocks and genitals with baby soap (liquid soap for babies is better, it's easier to use).
Then rinse the soap thoroughly with water, pat the baby's skin dry with a towel or diaper. nine0007 If the baby has just urinated into the diaper, then you can not wash it, but use wet wipes when changing the diaper. Choose special baby wipes that are fragrance- and alcohol-free.
Changing diapers
Most often, mothers use disposable diapers for baby care. There are a few simple rules that are important to follow in this case:
When using them, remember that the child should not be in one disposable diaper for more than 4 hours. nine0007 Put on a diaper for a newborn so that the umbilical cord is not covered. This is necessary for the fastest healing of the umbilical wound.
It is desirable that a few hours a day the baby just lie on the diaper without a diaper, so that the skin can breathe.
It is also important to ensure that diaper rash does not form on the skin under the diaper. To prevent diaper rash, it is necessary to dress the baby according to the weather, that is, do not overheat it, and you can also use a special diaper cream.
nine0005
If diaper rash has already formed, you need to see a doctor, he will recommend a remedy for their healing, most likely it will be a cream containing dexpanthenol, an effective healing medicine.
Of course, it is better to prevent diaper rash, as they can be very painful and disturb the baby.
Bathing a newborn
All mothers are interested in the question: when can you start bathing a child after discharge from the hospital?
“You can bathe the child immediately after discharge, but if you have been vaccinated with BCG, but within a day or two after the vaccination, it is better not to bathe the child so as not to wet the injection site.” nine0005
After the umbilical wound has healed, you can already bathe your child in a regular bath in tap water, gradually increasing the bathing time from 5 minutes to 30-40.
Every day while bathing the child, it is necessary to wash his genitals and buttocks, 1-2 times a week you need to wash the whole baby with soap, and also wash the child's head with a special baby shampoo.
Important! Always bathe your child with the bathroom door open, because this child will not be so cold after you take him out of the water, as the temperature difference will not be too big. nine0005
Each time the baby should be lowered into the water slowly, starting from the legs. In the water it is necessary to support the entire body of the child. If water gets into the baby's ears or eyes while bathing, it's not scary, it's quite natural!
From the first days of life, you can start easy hardening of the child. To do this, before you start bathing the baby, prepare and place a vessel with water in the bathroom, the temperature of which will be 0.5-1 degrees lower than the temperature of the water in the bath. At the end of the bath, pour water over the child from this vessel. nine0005
After bathing the baby, blot with a diaper or towel, but do not dry it, as this procedure can damage the delicate baby skin.
You also need to prepare two small cotton buds and gently twist them into the baby's ears so that the cotton absorbs the water that got into the ears during the bath.
After the baby's skin is dry, it is advisable to treat the folds with baby oil.
Newborn nail care
Baby's nails should be cared for 1-2 times a week, as children's nails grow very quickly. To cut nails, you need to purchase special scissors with rounded ends. On the legs, the nails should be cut evenly, and on the hands - rounding the edges. nine0007 Walking with the baby
In summer, you can walk with your baby the day after discharge from the maternity hospital. It is advisable to protect the child from direct sunlight. It is better to go for a walk in the summer either in the morning (before 10 am) or in the evening (after 6 pm), at this time it is not so hot.
In winter, walks are recommended to start 2-3 days after discharge from the hospital. If the temperature outside is below 10 degrees, it is better not to go for a walk with the baby.
The first walk should be very short - 10-15 minutes. Then every day it is worth walking for 10 minutes longer.
nine0005
When preparing for a walk with the baby, mothers usually doubt whether they have dressed the baby correctly. In order not to miscalculate with clothes, you should always follow a simple rule - there should be as many clothes on the baby as on you, plus one more layer. So the baby will be comfortable.
Of course, during a walk it is worth checking the condition of the child. In the summer, it is important not to overheat the baby: if the child turns red, then it is worth taking something off him, he is hot.
In winter, there is a high risk of freezing. If the baby is cold, he will have cold hands, feet and nose, in which case an extra blanket will not hurt. nine0005
A.H. Abzalova,
neonatologist
What a mother should know about caring for a newborn
breastfeeding. The nurse teaches how to wash and wash the baby, teaches how to perform thermometry, care for the umbilical cord and umbilical wound.
nine0005
Before and after caring for a child, a woman should wash her hands thoroughly.
Cord Remnant Care
The umbilical cord first dries out on exposure to air and then falls off within the first week of life.
According to international recommendations, sterile conditions are not required for the care of the umbilical cord.
It is not recommended to treat the umbilical cord residue with any antiseptics, it is enough to keep it dry and clean, protect it from contamination with urine, feces, and also from injury from tight swaddling or using disposable diapers with tight fixation. It has been proven that the local use of antiseptics not only does not reduce the frequency of infections, but also helps to delay the fall of the umbilical cord. In case of contamination, the umbilical cord residue and the skin around the umbilical ring can be washed with water and dried with clean cotton or gauze. The umbilical cord should fall off on its own.
It is not recommended to use bandages and additional tying of the umbilical cord to speed up the mummification process. In the maternity hospital, early discharge is practiced (3-4 days after birth), including before the umbilical cord falls off. nine0005
Newborn skin care
When caring for healthy newborn skin, you should avoid any actions that can break the epidermal barrier (exposure to high humidity, friction, irritants, injuries) ), cooling, skin irritation with urine and feces. It is recommended to bathe the child in warm water without adding any disinfectants; daily use of shampoos, bubble baths and other cleansers is not indicated. nine0005
Many powders contain particles that cause skin irritation, as well as fragrances that provoke allergic reactions. Talc-free powders can be used to treat neck, axillary and groin folds in diaper rash due to inappropriate use of diapers. It is necessary to avoid the widespread use of vaseline (vegetable oil), which retains moisture and is an active allergen.
Improper skin care causes diaper dermatitis, which is skin irritation in the area in contact with the diaper. The main reason for the development of diaper dermatitis is care defects (rare diaper changes, tight swaddling). Diaper dermatitis does not pose a serious threat to the health of the child, but
skin irritation is very painful, causes suffering and anxiety of the child, which is reflected in his well-being.
Regardless of the type of diapers (disposable or reusable), you must follow the rules for caring for the child:
- change the diaper when it is full;
- immediately change the diaper if there was a chair;
- use breathable diapers;
- organize air baths as often as possible during the day.
Skin care is different when using disposable and reusable diapers. nine0005
Skin must be dry when using disposable diapers; it is not recommended to use fatty ointments, creams that create the effect of a compress, which provokes the development of dermatitis.
