My baby stinks of rotting flesh

[Spuddybean]

Hi all, my 6 day old baby absolutely hums. His umbilicus really smells bad. The entire house smells of it and i am finding it hard to hold him close without gagging. Everyone comments and it is really upsetting me. No one elses baby in my baby group has it.

Is there anything i can do? The MW saw it yesterday and said it was fine but might be another 10 days before it drops off. She also commented that it was particularly pongy in relation to others :(

MW has called and said she will pop round this avo.

Feeling better now, thanks everyone.

Happier - No more hol allowance to use sadly. He has been working at his normal job and using his holiday to do consultancy work (and doing TA at weekends). He is also using his 2nd week of Pat leave to work. (We are emigrating soon so are saving/earning every penny). If i don't die or break down it will all be worth it

Wow-patient ping pong, and with a newborn too. Disgraceful.

Do check your local hospitals-has any of them got a walk-in paediatric unit? If so, then at least while your child is small you may find going there more useful than a ratty GP surgery. While our GPs are very good, we have found that for some things, going straight to our hospital has been better when teh DC are tiny.

Ok well the way you've been treated is very poor. Hopefully now the stump has come off things will improve. You could ask the midwife to arrange for a prescription for antibiotic powder. We had that for dd1's which took a long time to come away. It didn't smell awful but was quite 'weepy'. The powder was very helpful. The other thing I would ask the midwife to do is take a very good look at you and consider if swabs are needed from you because i think with the injuries you've got and the degree of tiredness you're suffering you're basically a banquet on legs for any opportunistic bacteria. It wouldn't hurt to check you for signs of infection as well.

Last I heard from toddle she was fine and the kittens had gone to new homes. I have her address so can send things on. i'm sure support for Missy is very welcome. (they kept her)

That's outrageous!

Complain, please. That doctor is taking the word of another professional, from over 24 hours earlier. That's a heck of a long time in the life of a child only 5 days old.

And of you're still worried, call back and insist on the visit. I know home visits aren't popular for very good reasons (I used to work in GP's surgery, I know the sense of it) but this is one of those cases that should be the exception.

Ignoring you like this doesn't just put your child t risk, it might just put you at risk of depression if you're worried and feel like no-one's taking you seriously.

Very poor.