using milk on cord

[nicole179]

i just read online somewhere that one person used their milk on the umbilical cord stump to dry it up.  anyone heard of this?  son is 3 wks old and cord still hasn't fallen off yet!! it smells so bad!  i gag everytime i change him.  i don't know what else to do. hospital said not to use anything, or alcohol once in awhile.  he pees almost every time i take his diaper off, i try to clean it and dry it off after he gets pee on it, but i think that is why it is taking so long to dry up. any ideas, anyone sed milk?

[PamelaBee]

Never heard of using milk, I wouldn't do that either.  You should be applying rubbing alcohol to his belly button everyday with a qtip...and getting good inbetween the black stump and his belly button.   If it smells bad it could be infected....it should not smell at all.  You may want to see your pediatrician.

[tiredbuthappy]

i agree- contact your ped. both of my kids lost theirs in a week and it never smelled. also, we used to fold the diapers below the belly button until the cord fell off. maybe that made a difference? if it doesn't stay folded down, you can fold it down and apply the diaper velcros at an angle to keep it folded and off the belly button.

[peekawho]

You should see your pediatrician.    After 3 weeks, it should not be moist, nor should it smell.  In fact, it shouldn't be there at all by this time.

See the doctor.

[PamelaBee]

I'm sorry I would be remiss if I didn't say this...please be careful what you find online when it comes to the care and treatment of your baby. Please don't ever self diagnose or self treat your baby without speaking to a professional.  I read your post again and couldn't believe someone would think putting milk on their baby's umbilical cord would dry it up and make it fall off...and I'm equally suprised you called your hospital and they told you only to use alcohol "once in a while"?  For the most part the internet is a great means of obtaining knowledge and advice...and then there's this nonsense.  Just please be careful : )

[nicole179]

thanks for the concern, i had an appt yesterday at hospital they looked at it and said it was still doing fine.  we cleaned it up with alcohol again.  it actually fell off about 2 hours after my post today! yay!!!!!!!!!!

[pertykitty]

i have to say bm is incredible to use in healing! i had a bad pimple (the big hard under the skin kind) and i put bm on it and in a few days it dried up!! i had dh put it on a cut too, and it healed probably the same as if i used neosporin.  good to hear the cord fell off.  its so much easier once its off.