A few questions about belly buttons

[Splinters]

I do not like belly buttons. Would therefore be v. grateful for any info/advice you can give me on the following, because the belly button thoughts are stressing me out a bit.

1. Is it inevitable that mine will pop out while I'm pg? (it's quite a deeply recessed inny btw.) When will it happen? (I need to be prepared.) Is there any lotion/ointment/massage technique/operation that can prevent this happening? Anyone who could maybe sew the edges together to stop the middle coming flying out?

2. How long will it take for the baby's stump thingy to shrivel up and drop off? How will I cope until it does? Is there any way to make sure the dc gets an inny rather than an outy?

1. Not inevitable, no. Mine reached flat by the time I gave birth but never actually popped. It is a deep inny too. I don't know of anything which would stop it.

2. DS's came off after about 5 days I think. You just work around it til it does, newborn nappies have a lower front to accommodate the stump. As far as I'm aware they get what they get. You don't really get a choice.

During my first pregnancy mine didn't pop out at all, but the skin around it got very tight and it had a white circle around it. This time it feels even tighter and it's gone completely flat and feels as if it could pop out at any time (I'm 36 weeks). It's quite sore to be honest.

Your baby's stump will dry up after about a week and fall off. I'm not sure what determines if it's an outy or an inny but surely it doesn't matter?

Mine was flat first time around.

Looked like a minstrel second time.

Looks like a minstrel now.

Up to a week for cord to fall off. You can get a powder which dries the stump so it falls a bit quicker. But don't know what it's called. The hv have it me.

And I can assure you, your belly button will be the least of your worries!!

And inny/ outy preference...

Out our hospitals they just clamp the cord. No knot or anything. Think how it heals and your baby's body shape affect whether it's in or out.

My ds1+2 both have outies. But no baby has an inny surely? And ds1 is a bit of a string bean so there's no meat on him to make his outy an inny

Mine never even went flat, just stayed the same as it always is.

The cords of both of mine took about a week to come off (and I still have them 4 and 8 years later ). There is no way to make it an innie or an outie, it will be what it will be.

DS has had an inny since the stump fell off.

1. I was also one who hated belly buttons, but pregnancy cured me of that. My belly button did eventually pop out. There was a phase when I could pop it in and out myself at will. Sounds grim, but it was fun! It went back in after birth and went very cavernous, now it is back to where it was before.

I had an inny, now 30 weeks with my first and it has popped out, was quite a shock seemed to do it overnight!

Lol- why are u worried about your belly button popping out? It goes back in again post birth. My inny popped out really early this time (20 weeks) now its sticking out loads (37 weeks) it feels all soft like baby skin.

OP I put a similar thread on when I was about 22 weeks, am now 30 and innnie is now becoming more outie, depending on how I'm sitting etc.

I totally feel your pain, I hate them and have chest infection at the moment, so when I cough it starts to pop out - which makes me almost have a bloody panic attack!

If it does go completely outie, I won't be able to cope childbirth will be a breeze then!

Mine stretched flat, I ended up looking like I didn't have a belly button, it's still more stretched than it used to be. Nothing you can do about it im afraid it will do what it needs to.

DSs stump took about a week to come off. As far as I know you can't choose whether it's innie or outie

Mine never became an outie, but I was well prepared to be sticking plasters over it so I wouldn't have to see it if it did

I normally have a deep belly button, it never actually popped, just went flat.

DS's stump took 4 weeks to fall off, it absolutely stunk too, like fish! I panicked and thought it was infected, but midwife said its completely normal, it is rotting flesh after all!

Mine went flat too. Ds2 chord didn't come of for 15 days! No control whether they have an innie or outie

I'm normally an inny and I am a weird half in half out now at 30 weeks. The top half of my belly button has popped out but the bottom half is still in. It looks pretty odd. I have an odd aversion to outy belly buttons too, but it's been moving towards an outy so slowly I've got over the weirdness now.

My belly button never popped out, it just looked smaller.

I am a bit weird and was really looking forward to seeing the bottom of my belly button, it seems that mine is a black hole and although it stretched out a lot (I could tell by where my piercing scar was) I never got close to seeing the bottom :-(

I can't remember how long DS's stump took to fall off, but it was very stinky.

Mine went out slowly over the course of a few weeks - from about 25 to 30 say. It was a deep inny and is back to normal now again. Not much you can do about it I reckon, though it sounds like it doesn't happen everyone. DD has an inny and has done since the stump fell off (about a week after she was born I think). Nothing you do will determine which it will be.

My innie never became an outie even through the final overdue days and a huge bump.
I was a bit dissapointed as I was looking forward to giving it a good clean out.

Baby lost his cord on day 2. Very early and quite messy. We had to do lots of aftercare with it to avoid infection.

My belly button makes me feel sick. In a really squeamish way. I don't know why. It's all stretched and hard and uncomfortable.

Haha makes me feel sick too. Your description of your bb is the same as mine and mine never came out I didn't get tooo huge though. Nothing you can do.

Re: umbilical cord, I dunno if this had anythign to do with it but we waited a good 20 minutes for the cord to stop pulsing and then cut it, and then fell off on day 2, was very pleasantly surprised.

OH and DS bb has always been an inny, not as tight as mine more open like my DHs but definately and inny.

Flip sorry keep posting too soon. Also when it fell off on day 2 it was perfectly healed! Will definitely be delaying cord clamping this time around in hopes of the same thing happening!