Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Umbilical cord?

I have a 5 week old baby and his umbilical cord still looks very attached. I've been using alcohol every time I change him. Is there anything else that can be done to help speed up the dryimg process? my grandmother has also recommended olive oil, anyone heard of using it and would it be ok??

Public Comments

Nope--just be patient. Is it smelling funny? Pussing? Quite red? If so, talk to your doctor. If not, just try to be patient. The day is coming.
nope, but if you are really concerned you should talk with your doctor
no it will fall off give it time of my nephew took a crap in his diaper and that's when his came off in his crap
are you cleaning around it with a q-tip? you may not be getting down around it far enough. if you are only cleaning the top part, it wont dry out for a long time. it also takes time for it to fall off. not every baby is the same.
ITS A PROCESS THAT WILL HAPPEN JUST BE PATIENT. MY DOCTOR TOLD ME NOT TO PUT ALCOHOL ON MY SONS AND IT FELL OF A WEEK LATER.
Alcohol has been shown to delay the umbilical cord falling off, and does not effect the rate of infection. Just leave the cord alone, and try to keep it uncovered as much as possible (which can be hard as it is cold this time of year) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=9836156&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google CONCLUSIONS: (a) Evidence does not support continued use of alcohol for newborn cord care; (b) health care providers should explain the normal process of cord separation, including appearance and possible odor; and (c) health care providers should continue to develop evidence to support or eliminate historic practices. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=9458563&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google Cleaning with alcohol will increase the length of time from birth to cord separation but will not prevent colonization of the umbilical area
with my first son 4 years ago I was told also to use alcohol with a q tip however with my second that was born 16 months ago I was told to use nothing at all and his fell off 2 weeks after birth!