Umbilical cord care

Your baby’s umbilical cord stump will fall off within 1 to 2 weeks of life. Keep it clean and dry. Wash around the base of the cord once a day and dry it with a Q-tip. As the cord begins to fall off, it normally may bleed or ooze a few drops of light yellow fluid for several days. Please call us if your baby’s cord develops a white shiny knob, called a “granuloma,” or if your baby’s stump oozes pus, or turns red, hot or swollen.

Weeks or a few months after the cord falls off, you may notice the skin begins to form a balloon that slowly grows over time. This phenomenon is called an “umbilical hernia.” Most of the time, the underlying “six pack muscle” is just closing up and the skin balloon is temporary. In rare instances when there is a large hole in the abdominal muscle, your pediatrician may recommend visiting with a pediatric surgeon to discuss electively closing this hernia by performing surgery when the child is older.