Umbilical Cord Care

Baby's First Year Milestones Slideshow

• Umbilical Cord Care Overview
• Umbilical Cord Stump
• Self-Care at Home
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Outlook
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors

Umbilical Cord Care Overview

Parents, especially new parents, tend to get concerned about their newborn's umbilical stump. In fact, it does look somewhat alien immediately after delivery. The most important advice I can offer is to try not to look at it too often and keep it clean and dry until it falls off.

Umbilical Cord Stump

The umbilical cord connects the developing fetus to the mother through the placenta from the sixth week of pregnancy until birth. As a lifeline, the cord supplies the developing fetus with oxygen, nutrients, and a means of waste elimination while in the womb. At birth, because the baby is able to breathe, eat, and void the bladder and bowel, the umbilical cord becomes unnecessary; so it is clamped and cut shortly after delivery. Since there are no nerve fibers in the cord, your newborn will not feel it.

It is important to provide proper care for this portion of remaining cord at the baby's navel until it heals and separates from the umbilicus - usually within two weeks after birth. The stump will change from a yellow-green color to black as it dries out. Be aware that at this point it will not be possible to determine whether your child will grow up with a so-called "inny" or an "outy."