Bleeding Umbilical Cord

Congratulations to you and your family! Don't worry about some bleeding, my daughter had the same thing and I freaked out :P The advise nurse and later pedi instructed me to REALLY clean the stump with rubbing alcohol. The pedi said that the nurses on the maternity ward tell us to be oh so delicate, when really we need to get down and dirty. Now not so rough to yank it off. Take your index and middle finger and make a V; place your fingers on either side of the belly button and push down to really expose the base of the cord; take your cotton swab/q-tip with alcohol and rub around base; presto you are done. As the cord dries it may get caught on his clothing so try t-shirts instead of onsies at this point. My daughter ended up with an umbilical granuloma (the very base of the cord doesn't fall off), my pedi said it happens not to worry and gave us the above instructions. She also used silver nitrate (grey fluid) which super dries the cord--we needed two treatments of that. I am happy to say after 5 days the remaining piece fell out and she has a beautiful innie! Best of luck.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi,
slight bleeding is normal. they should have told you before you left the hospital how to clean it. The main thing is to keep it dry because you need it to dry to fall off, the second thing you should be doing is wiping it with rubbing alcohol. Just dip the Q-tip in alcohol and rub all around the cord this helps it dry up faster and keeps it clean. With my kids I did it a few times a day when I would change their diapers. In the hospital the nurses do this everytime they check the baby. Also, Do not pull it off let it fall off.
The other thing is if you are concerned don't hesitate to call you doctor and ask questions whenever something concerns you, it will ease your mind
C.

A bit of bleeding is normal! My first barely bled, but my 2nd had blood on all her cute ltttle outfits. My pedi had me clean it w/alcohol. He said this is mostly to dry it out, and so there may be an opinion no to do anything. (personally I wanted to get it off asap- purely a cosmetic thing =) -H.

DS1's cord was seeping a little blood after the first week so the Pedi did the thing with the long stick as mentioned below by another MaMa... I don't remember it being set aflame though. The lactation consultant offered to do it but we had a Pedi appt the same afternoon... must not be such a big deal. It took a couple of weeks for both my boys' cords to fall off... keep the area clean w/ alcohol and if it's still nagging you give the nurse's station a call... they can probably do the stick thing w/o a full-blown appointment to set your mind at ease.

Hi,

My daughter had to have the umbilical cord cauterized - they use what looks like a silver solution on it. Once did it, we had no other issues with it after.

This happened to me with my 1st born child. While there was just a small amount of blood, I was really concerned. I called my child's doctor and was assured that everything was okay. I was told that may baby wasn't in any pain and that this does sometines happen. It had something to do with a small amount of blood that remained in the cord after delivery. I cleaned it with a q-tip just as you did, however the doctor advised me to use rubbing alcohol. I did keep a close eye on it for a few days just to be sure it didn't show any signs of infection (redness, swelling, puss or oozing). Everything turned out fine and his button looks completely normal. Congratulations on your new baby!

HI!

That happened to both my kids. .. the cord stump just didn't heal right. The Dr. put some kind of grey solution on it to make it dry up and it did. Just be sure you put your little one in an OLD outfit when you go to the dr. for this. The solution stains and won't come out.

H.

Hi there, use alchol, it is drying. Or get some golden seal powder and dust it on there. It will dry up nicely.

When I baby girl was about four weeks old her umbilical cord was bleeding. Yes four weeks old. It took forever for her cord to fall off. I called her doctor and he said the bleeding was normal and to just keep it dry. It actually bled quite a bit just before it fell off when she was five and a half weeks old!!! She had a thick cord.

Dear L.,
Congratulations on your baby!
I never had any problems with my daughter's cord healing just as it should, so when my son's didn't seem to be healing right, it terrified me. I did everything I was supposed to do and it just stayed mushy and leaked blood.
I took him to the pediatrician. Right there in the office, he cauterized it. It took like...two seconds. He got in a drawer and pulled out a thing that looked like a long match stick. I can't remember now what it was that was on the end of it. But, he lit it and touched it to the cord. It wasn't flames or anything and it happened so fast, the baby didn't even know it. It sealed the end of the cord and it healed rapidly after that.
I know it sounds scary, but so is the cord not healing. It really wasn't that bad. It was better to just get it taken care of. I guess a leaky cord is more common than you might think. Like I said, the doctor had a drawer full of those things. I'm sure there may be other things you can do, but my doctor just didn't mess around about it and I was glad to have it taken care of.

I hope all works out well for your little guy!

I noticed you said umbilical cord tie. That is interesting that they kept the tie on. Both my girls were taken off before we left the hospital. I don't know if that would help to not have it on. It usually dries up near the tie pretty quickly. Like most have said-alcohol is what I would use. It does dry it up quicker. Both my daughters feel off pretty quickly.

L.,

The BEST thing to use in rubbing alcohol. Soak a qtip in the rubbing alcohol and drench the umbilical cord with it. Do this several times a day. I did this with each diaper change. The rubbing alcohol is a DRYING agent for the umbilical cord.

Don't use any soap or water on it. You want it to dry and fall off, not stay wet.
Keep using the alcohol until it falls off. If it continues to bleed alittle bit, that's ok, just keep using the alcohol and it will continue to dry inside the belly button.
Congrats.
Good luck Trish

This sounds perfectly normal. My son's umbilical cord started to bleed a few drops in the hospital and the nurse said that meant it was getting ready to come off. A week later it bled a lot more and I called the pedi's office and they said as long as there was no redness around the umbilical cord area and no discharge than it was fine. She said to drop a few drops of rubbing alcohol on it when we changed him. It fell off a few days later and healed without a problem. Unless you see discharge/redness, I wouldn't worry about a little bit of blood from the umbilical cord. Good luck!

When my 5 yr old son was born, my pediatrician told me to clean his belly button with a qtip dipped in alcohol. Don't pull on the chord, but clean around it. It will bleed a little if is torn away from the button. It will be ok though.

Yes, this happened to me right before it fell off my son. Yes, and clean it with alcohol swab.

I remember the hospital giving me alcohol pads to use to clean the spot regularly. Then when we got home we used a q-tip and alcohol every few diaper changes. It seems to me that it helped it dry up and fall off faster. There was often blood on the onesie. Congratulations on your new baby.

I think this is normal. As long as it stops bleeding and isn't a large amount and the blood looks normal- not pussy or anything. My youngest had this happen. I actually noticed a difference between him and my other two- his also smelled. The difference is, when my older two were born the doctors were telling us to put rubbing alcohol on it at each diaper change. With my 3 year old they said do nothing. I don't know if this is why it smelled or bled easier but that was my philosophy! Anyway, I wouldn't worry.

It is ok to have a little bit of blood. His cord is very new and is in process of healing. Are you using rubbing alcohol to help dry up the cord on his belly button? If you're not, then it can be still raw and it will continue to bleed a little bit at a time. If so, start using rubbing alcohol and wipe it on his cord and do it every 4-6 hours or every other diaper changes. If it is bleeding alot, take him to the nearest urgent care or emergency room or call your doctor and ask questions.

In best regards,
D.

Hi L.,
the reason his umbilical stump bled is because it was not ready to fall off yet. kind of like when you pick a new scab. if you protect it from irritation it will dry up and fall off when it is ready. avoid the bath as to not get it wet.
good luck and congratulations
S.

Hi L.,

I would suggest to put alcohol on the umbilical cord at every diaper change. This is what I did with each of my kids to help it dry and fall off as soon as it could. Make sure you put alcohol all over, even underneath it to dry the underside where it is moist. Good luck.

C.

Hello! I've been there! It is very scary at least I thought so when it happened to my daughter. My daughter was so small at 6lbs 4oz the daiper even with the notch for the umbilical cord removed or folded down still didn't help, it always rubbed. Making it bleed. You have to keep putting lots of alcohol on it.....that is what dries it up. My daughters came off in 7 or 8 days after she was born. It actually dangled for a bit before it completly came off. I did take her to the doctor before when I was scared but there wasn't anything they could do. Just use lot of alcohol to dry the cord and attchment to the stomach. It will be ok. My daughter is now 1yr 4months! They grow fast....before you know it she'll be big!
M.

Hello,

Yes, it's normal as long as it's not excessive. Continue to clean it with a q-tip and the cleaning thing they tell you to use. I want to say peroxide, but not sure if that's right.

If it's really concerning you, you can call your pediatricians advice nurse & they can help you but I'm sure it's normal.

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy! :))
B.

My son is 4 months old and this happened to him when his umbilical cord fell off. I was very worried, called Kaiser, had them look at it at his 2 week well baby check-up... I did the same thing at first, clean it out with a Q-tip, but I was told just to leave it alone. As long as it was only enough to fill up his belly button they weren't worried about the bleeding. I had to be careful, though, because if I rubbed him against me just a little too hard, it would start bleeding again. We rolled the top part of his diaper underneath itself so it didn't aggravate the scab. After a little while (and several baths), the crusty dried blood went away. He still has some dark discoloration in his navel, but I'm not sure if that is just normal belly button healing. Bottom line - he's fine and it's nothing to worry about.