Dear Lactnetters,
     I have been very interested in the thread lately about cord care and
whether or not to immerse the baby in water before the cord has fallen
off.  When I had my first two children 14 and 12 years ago with midwives
in FL, all new mothers in this practice were encouraged to bathe with
baby almost immediately after birth.  It was a wonderful first bonding
experience.  I was told that until the cord fell off, to wipe with
alcohol after every bath and at several diaper changes during the day and
then let the cord air dry.  This kept the cord from getting too gunky.
Both of those babies lost their cords at 6 days.
     When I had my next baby 3 years later in a different city, my
midwife and dear friend at that time was giving the old advice to her
clients not to immerse until the cord fell off.  While I respect her for
her skill as a midwife, I did ignore this piece of advice and cared for
the cord as I had in the past.  Again, cord fell off in 6 days.
     I, too had heard of babies still having cords until well past the
second week and always wondered why I was so lucky that things had gone
so smoothly for us.  Then when I had my twins two years ago in a
hospital, I was very adamant with the nurses that I did not want anything
applied to their cords except for alcohol which I would do  myself in the
room when I changed their diapers.  Once we were home, I bathed them in
water as I had always done, patting the cord dry after the bath and then
letting air dry.
     While I'm sure the nurses considered this just another strange
demand made by "this mother who used midwives before,"  they respected my
request and again cords fell off in exactly 6 days.  I'm glad that good
advice the first time and then following my own instincts proved to be
the right thing to do.