Cleaning the baby’s umbilical cord is one of those newborn baby health care tasks that need to be carried out meticulously. It is also very important to ensure that the baby’s umbilical cord stump is clean and dry at all times. The umbilical cord stump usually falls off within 4 to 14 days of child birth. Before it falls off you must ensure not to give your baby a tub bath. As you can see in the video, you need to make sure the stump is always kept dry. You must never pour water on it. You also need to handle it with care, when turning it to the side so you can clean all around it.
You can use alcohol when cleaning the stump. But if you use only water then you must dry the water with another ball of cotton wool to dry it. Alcohol dries off quickly so there would be no need to try and dry it after using alcohol to clean it. Another point to note is that due to the nature of the umbilical cord stump (it is an open wound) it is easily infected. So, you must make sure it is covered completely always. Lastly, remember when practicing newborn baby health care, and especially when dealing with the umbilical stump, that there is no room for mistakes.
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