Umbilical cord still attached at 3 weeks - anyone else?

[mayx3]

My baby boy is 3 and a half weeks old and still has his umbilical cord attached. It's a bit pongy, but I've had it checked by health visitor and GP and although surprised they're not too concerned. He's been prescribed some antibiotics just in case, but we've decided not to give this to him unless it gets inflamed. However I was just wondering if anyone else had a baby with cord still attached after this age and if all turned out OK in the end or if there were any potential problems. It doesn't seem to bother him, but I find the smell really offputting and can't wait for it to drop off! Also can't help worrying that it'll get infected or cause other problems. Any advice or reassurance welcomed!

Thanks motherhurdicure. Glad the ponginess didn't cause problems! No-one has suggested removing this one, but ponginess is horrible. How old were yours when they went pongy?

My youngest 3 all had this, they had very thick cords (probably because they were large babies), took forever to drop off and stun to high heaven. There is some special powder (like talc but I think it's antiseptic?) you can sprinkle on which could help it dry up quicker.

Cargirl - interested that yours were big babies - my boy was 9lb 6 at birth so also big. I assume forever is more than 3.5 weeks?! It looks a bit looser this afternoon - so hopefully it might fall off soon...

hmm mine were all big babies and the cord fell of fairly quickly, must be just pot luck, but do you fold the nappy back so that it isnt covered up? i think it helps to let the air get to it, if the dr and midwives arent worried then its obviously fine

guess just make sure to keep it dry etc hope it drops of soon so you can be rid of the pong, i think my boys smelled a bit too actually but they all dropped off within a week, infact i think ds4's dropped off too early cos he had a little scabby bit for ages afterwards where it hadnt quite healed, its fine now tho.

Yes we've been folding the nappy back, but we're now also leaving his babygrow open at times to try and air it some more. I sure it's fine, but it does seem to be unusual, oh well!

My ds was around 10 days old. It got soooo smelly that I asked the mw to pull it off. She explained that the smell was because it was going gangrenous!!!!!!! Yukk, rotting in other words. Very relieved to see the back of it
Ds was a big baby too - 9lb 13oz

Just remembered, I asked about a special powder I had heard about, but the mw said that they didn't recommend it any more.

DD1 fell off in 10 days, DD2 took 3 1/2 weeks. It was stuck in one position so not drying underneath so MW told me to move it with every nappy change and hey presto few days ;ater...gone! Mingy horrible job tho!!

DD4 umbilibal cord was like rope! It was really hard trying to cut it.

Still can't remember the name of the powder, when dd1 was born (now 11) it was part of your hospital list to buy it!

DS2 had the same thing. His umbilical cord was smelly, and smell is not normal. And sometimes there was a little blood, maybe just one drop, and this isn?t either normal. It is supposed to be dead tissue, but dead tissue doesn?t smell or bleed. So I called the nursery at the hospital were he was born and they told me to try with the powder named KATOXYN, which contains silver. It looked a little bit better, but at the end a doctor had to took it off. And she said to me it hadn?t been tied properly at birth. Now DS2 has a lovely and really sexy belly bottom which I love to kiss, so don?t worry, but why don?t you call the newborn ward at the hospital were you gave birth?

Well we've not had any blood (thank goodness), but it is smelly although lots of people seem to comment that the dead cord is smelly. However I might call the hospital and see what they think - good idea! It does look as if it might drop off any moment - I tried the wiggling it around and I think that's helping. I think maybe that was part of the problem, it was stuck in one position and the bit underneath wasn't drying out. Fingers crossed will sort itself out very soon.... Thanks for all the advice!

sexy Lori

Sorry Lory.
I agree mother, maybe it is a generational thing! The meaning has moved on, I don't like it though. I was in a lift once and a man tapped dd on the nose (she was in a sling facing forward) and said, "Hello Sexy."

I was .

DDs cord took a while to heal (though it did fall off within about 2 weeks I think) and smelled for a while. Then it got a bit infected too. Dr had to treat it with silver nitrate I think - ended up having 2 treatments. Her belly button is lovely now - I had forgotten all about that until I read this thread

I've kept all my childrens cords

My DS had a manky belly button for aaaaaaaaaaaaages!!

It absolutely stank! It was so pongy it actually used to make me smell after he'd been laying against me whilst feeding!

First thing we had to do on way home from taking him home from hospital was to get ABs from docs (midwife led unit couldn't give then) they didn't help but did i think stop the smell!
Had it cortorised (sp!) at his 8 week check but even now there's a teeny bit hanging on for dear life.

It really upset us at first, mainly cos of the smell but it does get better.

(DS was 8lb 1oz so not massive or teeny)