Newborn Belly Button

My husband meticulously cleaned my newborns belly button daily and took care of it to a T!! We still had to wait until she was 4 weeks old for it to finally fall off.

Hi N.,
My baby girl was born June 15th and her cord still hasn't fallen off either. Although, i have missed a few cleanings. I now squeaze the alcohol from the cotton ball onto her belly button, it seems to go to every nook and cranny that was. looks like it is drying up faster. hang in there. this is my third child. it will come off. :)

My little girl took about 5-6 weeks for hers to fall off. It seemed forever but don't worry. It'll be okay. Just continue to clean it as you were told and it'll work itself out.

Hi!
I just wanted to add one thing: My son's belly button stump fell off in about 10 days, but it kept bleeding for weeks after that. My pediatrician ended up cauterizing it - basically he uses some kind of tool to cause the skin to seal up and form a scab. So, when the stump falls off, if it bleeds a bunch don't worry about it because it isn't serious and your pediatrician can fix it.

On my last baby I used a blow dryer instead of alcohol and the belly button was gone within days! You just pull up on the cord and dry the moisture out! Works like a charm!

My baby girl's did the same thing. I put alchohol on it but it seemed gooey underneath. It fell off fine in 8 weeks. Not to worry.

I think my daughter's took about four weeks to fall off. We did use alcohol to clean it at each diaper change. I thought it would never come off!! The doctor would've done something to help it along in the following few days if it had not come off by itself, but it did, and she was fine! Hang in there!

Um, yeah. My daughter's turned into this solid round piece that sunk into her belly button. There was no piece of it sticking out! It was so gross! Finally, when it started to dry up on the corners and peel away, I tried to pull it, but it was all goopy and gross. (Im making myself gag here!)lol!
After a couple of days of that, we finally pulled it out and it bled a little bit. It eventually got all dried out after a day or so, and is now her cute little "button-button" :)

Well, since I am not a doctor please double check with another pedi to confirm.
Both my Midwife and pedi advised against putting alcohol on the belly button. The instructions given to me were to keep it out of the diaper area, keep it dry and if it became icky to sprinkle a little Goldenseal on it. It fell off in a week.
I cleaned my first son's belly button with alcohol 3x a day and by the time I had my second son they had reduced that amount to just once a day, four years later I was told no alcohol needed...go figure!

Good luck! I'm sure it will happen soon!
Congratulations on your new bundle of joy!

Just wanted to let you know that my cousins kids (two) both took FOREVER to have their belly-button "knob" come off and their pedi even scheduled one to have it surgically removed. The pedi said it was not really a big deal but it CAN lead to infection if it stays on too long. Otherwise, if it is looking normal, not to worry. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE IT IN ANY WAY YOURSELF!!!!!!! Just keep it the way you were told (clean, etc) and it will eventually come off or they will cut it off at the drs. office (out-patient surgery)! My cousin's son did finally loose his about 2 days before they were going to remove it but he was getting up there in age (way over normal) and it still wasn't considered a big deal! Don't stress and maybe that is just "normal" for your child/future children!!!!!

Both of my kids and my nephew had this same problem. Our doctor said that some babies continue to have a blood supply to the stump. My nephew had to have surgery because his stayed on so long (he's now a very healthy & good looking 17 year old, so no damage done). If it hasn't come off in another month or so, the doctor may need to do something. My doctor ordered a sonogram on my daughter to see why hers was staying on. The person that administered it was so rough, it loosened hers up, made it bleed it little bit, and it came off within the next week.
I know this doesn't really help you, but just wanted you to know that it's happened to others, and will be fine eventually!

My daughter's cord stump took well over a month to fall off. She has an umbilical hernia (it looks like a really big outie), but I don't know if that had anything to do with the amount of time it took for the cord to fall off. Her doctor looked at it a couple of times, and said it was fine, it just wasn't ready to come off.
I would say just keep it clean and dry, and make sure the Dr. is aware of any changes with it.

Also, I would continue with the alcohol or whatever your doctor recommends. I was instructed to use alcohol on my daughter's stump, and it took a while to come off. My nephew was born about a year after my daughter, but his Dr. applied something to the stump at birth (maybe silver nitrate, but I'm not sure), and his parents didn't have to put anything more (like alcohol, etc.) on it, and it fell off within a couple of days. So, it's all situational, depending on the baby and treatments used. Your son's cord should be coming off soon and he will have a beautiful little belly button!

My son's did not come off until he was I think either 4 or 6 weeks. And, it didn't come off by itself. His peditrician pretty much removed it when we were in for a check up. I just remember both of us saying that when it did come off it was kind of "gross." She wasn't really concerned about it she just wanted it off. He didn't have any issues once it was "taken". He is 2 now and his belly button looks normal.

I agree with the mom that said to leave it alone, not even put alcohol on it. With my older son my ped still recommended the alcohol and it took weeks for it to heal. With my 2nd they said to leave it alone and it was gone and healed within days.

This happened to my youngest. The Dr. burned it off in the office. It was silver for a couple of days after-lol, but was just fine after that.

It easily takes more than 3 weeks. With my son, I did the alcohol and all that. With my daughter (she is now 18 months old), they told me not to touch it at all - just leave it alone and I think it actually did better that way.

-L.