Umbilical cord - did your DC's take more than a week to drop off?

[megandraper]

DS1's took 10 days.

He is now 5 and our paediatrician asked me about his umbilical cord. Apparently 'delayed separation' can be a sign of immune system problems.
DS1 was diagnosed with coeliac earlier this year, and is being investigated for recurrent infections at the moment.

This isn't a scare tactic - i don't imagine it's always the case that delayed separation means a problem. But I wish I'd known that there could be a link earlier, as it might have pointed me in the right direction sooner. So wanted to make others aware.

this seems odd to me - dd took 10 days and all books/hcps seemed to think that was normal. quick google seems to point to 1-2 weeks being the norm and delayed separation referring to several weeks post partum.

Oh no, DS's took 6 weeks. Will look into this, thanks OP.

Ds took between 2-3 weeks.

Dd had hers twisted off by the midwife because it was smelly. She also got an umbilical hernia that cleared itself on its own.

Oh dd's was at 4 days

My other two children were 3 days, only DS1 was 10 days.

I will ask the paediatrician more about it at our next appointment.

DS' took about 2 weeks - I was told it was because he and I had both had antibiotics (he was bf) post birth and they can slow it down

My daughter's took nearly 3 weeks. She hasn't had a days illness (touch wood) since leaving hospital. She's 4 next month.

My son's had an umbilical intravenous line until 10 days old so it was kept on artificially. His immune problems have nothing to do with the umbilical cord.

TBH your son's immune problems will almost certainly be linked to his coeliacs. If he can't digest food properly then his immune system will almost certainly be affected. His umbilical cord has nothing to do with it. I hope now that he has been diagnosed and under treatment that he will start to feel better soon. Good luck to you all.

Thanks blonde. But coeliac disease doesn't cause fevers. And a regular recurring fever of this kind doesn't seem to be a case of just being more susceptible to catching whatever is going around - it seems to be the same thing each time, and symptomless apart from high temperature. My younger son also has it, and his coeliac was caught before it caused significant gut damage, so malabsorption unlikely to be a factor there.

Googling comes up with a few possibilities - PFAPA and cyclic neutropenia seem the most likely from what I can tell.

He had blood tests yesterday, so we will see what the results show in a few weeks, and hopefully move a bit closer to getting rid of this!