Delayed Umbilical Cord Separation

Question

My newborn's umbilical cord doesn't look like it's going to fall off, even though it's now been over four weeks! Is this normal?

Answer

The average age for the cord to fall off is about 2 weeks. But I often see kids whose cords fall off later. The most important thing to watch out for is signs of infection, such as hard, reddened skin around the base. If her skin around the cord looks normal, then usually nothing more needs to be done. But it's wise for a pediatrician to take a look to be sure everything is fine. Pediatricians will sometimes put a dab of silver nitrate on it around 4 weeks of age if it hasn't fallen off, to hasten the drying.

Putting rubbing alcohol on your baby's umbilical cord does help prevent infection. But oddly enough, some studies indicate that alcohol actually slows cord separation by killing the normal bacteria that live around it. One study that looked at a lot of different things for cord cleaning found that cleaning with water alone resulted in the fastest cord separation.

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