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Home › Articles › Basic Care › Newborn Cord Care

Newborn Cord Care

Cleaning Your Baby's Umbilicus

By Lisa Marie Metzler

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The day you have been anxiously awaiting has arrived.

Your beautiful new baby is carefully swaddled in a blanket and handed to you to hold and caress. As any parent would, you meticulously go over every inch of your baby. Perhaps you see a striking resemblance to Grandpa's nose. Or maybe your baby has your great aunt's red hair. Of course, you'll count fingers and toes and remark how beautiful they are. Everything seems to be perfect. Your baby is the most beautiful child in the world!

Then, you stumble upon the dark, stump-like object protruding from the belly button. What is it? Have no fear. The umbilical cord, though not the most attractive feature your newborn sports, will heal, dry and eventually fall off, leaving an adorable belly button. In five to 10 days, Baby's tummy will have a whole new look.

To Swab or Not to Swab?
"Usually parents are advised to clean the cord stump with rubbing alcohol during every diaper change until the stump falls off," says Barbara Anderson, program coordinator for Maternal Child Heath at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health in Loma Linda, Calif.

However, recent studies have found there are no significant advantages to using rubbing alcohol every day on the umbilical cord stump.

One study, performed by the Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation in Ontario, Canada, and published in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, examined the drying time of umbilical cords treated with rubbing alcohol versus no alcohol. The study included more than 1,800 newborns. Half of the infants' cords were swabbed with rubbing alcohol and the other half were left untouched.


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