Jessica posted:
"I would appreciate some wisdom/tips for keep a baby's cord stump from
being prematurely ripped off when doing biological nurturing positions
in the early days."

and when Pat asked incredulously whether this had ever happened, she clarified:
"Baby is 5 days old and stump partially
came off (on its way already, I suppose...)"

Must say I was baffled by the initial post and only slightly less so
by the clarification.   Is a cord coming off at 5 days considered
'premature'?  It's pretty run of the mill where I am.  Some of them
hang on for two weeks, some fall off by day four.  What's the problem?
   When they loosen that early, the attachment site is usually a bit
moist.  Also not a problem!
A cord that loosens when the baby is in a completely normal situation
for a newborn, that is, lying skin to skin with its mother for a feed,
would not stay attached through any routine care activities, like
diaper changing or having clothes put on.   Unless the baby is
hemorrhaging  from the umbilicus, something I have *never* seen in
over 20 years of working postpartum, it's a non-event.  Cord falls
off, yay.  Easier to care for baby from then on, no cord angst on part
of mother.

Our routine cord care is to do nothing unless it smells bad.  Then we
wash it with water to get the smelly secretions off.  We don't do
anything special with the diapers, just put them on like you would if
there was no cord stump.   Usually it ends up inside.  Sometimes we
have immigrant women who bind the baby's abdomen, put dressings on the
cord, or sprinkle it with talcum powder.  Always makes a mess and we
try to get them to relax about it if possible.  We NEVER worry about
it after the first 24 hours, when we do check to make sure the rubber
band  around it hasn't become dislodged, but cords don't normally
bleed because the umbilical vessels on the inside of the baby's
abdominal wall constrict very effectively in response to higher oxygen
content in the air, as soon as baby is breathing.    Someone in
sterile supply actually cuts up compression tubing into 2 mm wide
rubber bands, threads a 15 cm length of twill tape through it, and
sterilizes them in large quantities for the labor ward and we have a
marvelous technique for placing one around the cord stump after we
divide the cord.    I can do it in my sleep but can't explain it in
writing.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
grandmother to a baby whose cord was torn as she was born and nobody
including this midwife/grandmother noticed for more than five minutes
because the end was under water :p  -  and THAT wasn't a problem
either !!

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