Let me put this out there right away: belly buttons make me squeamish. My own, other people’s… they bother me. I don’t know why. But when I was pregnant with M, one of the things that made me most nervous was knowing I’d have to deal with an umbilical cord stump.
Hers stuck around for a long time — several weeks, if I recall correctly — and it was a bit torturous waiting for it to fall off. But when it did, that was the end of belly button drama. The most challenging part was waiting for it to come off, and wondering if it was taking too long, because the extent of the umbilical care suggested to us was, basically, “keep it clean and leave it alone.”
With A, things were different from the start. Being in a different hospital their procedures weren’t the same as they were with M, and they left the clamp attached to the cord stump. It seemed to pull a bit, getting caught on things, and by the day we were discharged his belly button was looking a bit red and angry. The paediatrician checked it out and advised to just keep it clean, but over the next few days it got more and more irritated.
This is how we feel about belly button problems.
When we saw our local doctor one week out she mentioned that she could take the clamp off, but we all forgot and left the appointment with it still on. Shortly after that, Mac Daddy was changing A, and the stump came right off. It was about two weeks post birth, at most, which seemed early to us, and the umbilical site did not look happy. There was discharge, there was something that looked like a bit of remaining cord stump — it was not nice (especially for squeamish me!). At the advice of a doctor we used alcohol wipes to dry it up, and by our one-month appointment, it was appearing to heal well enough that our doctor said it looked like it was on its way to closing nicely.
But then, within days, I noticed a red, shiny lump. I guessed it was a granuloma — we had looked up belly button issues on discharge day because Mac Daddy was concerned already at that point, so I knew what they looked like. And I was right. I’ll spare you the image, but there are lots of examples online!
We were advised to head to our clinic at some point to get it treated with silver nitrate, which dries up the tissue. When I got there, the doctor I saw (as a walk-in patient, so not our regular doctor) had never seen a granuloma before, and said, “I’m not even sure what to do about that.” Because I had looked it up already I knew silver nitrate was the treatment and told her so, even though I hate doing the Doctor Google thing. Luckily she agreed it was a good idea, quickly looked it up to confirm for herself, and brought out the silver nitrate sticks.
There are no nerve endings in that area so the treatment isn’t painful. A cried, but that was because I had to pin his arms down. The application was done within minutes and the doctor advised we could come back in about two weeks if it hadn’t healed or was looking strange. Some granulomas require a few treatments to fully go away.
We’re about a week out from that first treatment and it’s hard to tell if we’ll need another. The tissue is still dying away (gross I know) so I’m not sure what’s under there. The weeping has stopped, though, and it’s not red anymore. A’s belly button looks a lot more normal, which is a relief!
I’m not sure how common umbilical granulomas are — has your child had one? How did the treatment go?
grapefruit / 4584 posts
Of my 3 DDs, the second two had umbilical issues requiring cauterization. DD2’s was really really nasty – it smelled awful and was so red, and oozed puss for a long time. The hospital forgot to remove the clip on her umbilical stump, and I didn’t know to ask…so it stayed on until she saw her pediatrician next. I think we had it treated with silver nitrate twice. But she’s 2.5, and has the most adorable little belly button ever! DD3’s was less of a mess, and cleared up right away once treated. At 3 months, hers is also perfectly normal.
pear / 1632 posts
My first boy had something that looked similar to this but it was more of a ball or knot, not red and inflamed. I thought the Dr tied it wrong :0 Anyways it eventually turned into a hard ball in the middle of button. It looked really weird. So at nine months, he had to get his ielligal hernia fixed so in the same surgery the surgeon also cut off the hard ball. His belly button looks great now.
guest
I am too scared to google was a granuloma is, but my 3rd baby had belly button issues. When she was about a week old her belly button stump was FUuuuunKy!. She stunk. I called the pediatrician and they said it could get very serious and to bring her in. I was a little embarrassed at how gross it smelled in the room, like I was a bad mom or something. The doctor that saw her was young and new and not exactly sure if silver nitrate would be enough or she needed to be admitted for antibiotics for several days. He got a more experienced dr to take a look and he thought silver nitrate would be fine. She was treated and now, 7 months later, her belly button is totally normal.
blogger / clementine / 985 posts
@PinkElephant: I’m glad it all healed normally!
@jh524: Belly buttons are so weird!