Hello dear prospective mothers and fathers and current mothers and fathers as well, In today’s program I will be telling you about the care of your baby’s umbilical cord stump with a demonstration.

​Care of your newborn baby’s umbilical cord stump:
Hello dear prospective mothers and fathers and current mothers and fathers as well,
In today’s program I will be telling you about the care of your baby’s umbilical cord stump with a demonstration. Your baby was living in your body in a water filled sac without any oxygen. The connection between the mother and baby is established by means of the umbilical cord that has three vessels carrying whatever the baby needs plus the oxygen from the mother to the baby. A gel like tissue forms around these vessels for protection purposes. Even if the baby moves in the sac causing the cord to fold or twist, the flow in the vessels is ensured thanks to the gel tissue. When the baby is born and inhales oxygen for the first time, the vessels inside the umbilical cord close down and its functionality ceases. This is followed by clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord before the baby is placed in your arms. The placement of the clamp and shortening of the stump to be left to dry takes place later in the baby room as shown here. This piece will now get dry, disengage and fall off. However, we must take care to comply with rules of hygiene. Mothers are usually scared of touching the stump thinking that they would hurt the baby. However, the umbilical cord stump does not contain nerve ends and it is now dead tissue and it doesn’t cause pain to the baby. But you must take care not to cover it with anything or leave it under the diaper’s edge. In terms of the umbilical cord stump, the umbilical cord notch diapers will be advantageous as the umbilical cord is left outside in contact with air to dry and fall off shortly.  This process would speed up when you use an umbilical cord notch diaper. In some babies the gel tissue around the umbilical cord is fine while in some others it is thicker with a thicker consistency. If the umbilical cord gel tissue is fine, then when the stump is left out in the open without any pressure on it, it would dry off in a short period of time and fall off within the first week. However, if the umbilical cord tissue is thick, then you can facilitate the drying process by cleaning the cord tissue with a piece of cotton containing alcohol. Foul smells emanating from the umbilical cord, redness on the surrounding tissue, sensitivity and temperature increase could be the symptoms of an infection requiring you to seek medical help.
See you in the next program, with our best wishes, goodbye.