What to do if the umbilical cord of a newborn is inflamed - symptoms

Newborn umbilical cord care is also a very important thing. If it is not properly cared for, it will cause great harm to the baby. So how to care for the newborn umbilical cord? What should I do if the newborn umbilical cord is inflamed? What are the symptoms of newborn umbilical cord inflammation?

What to do if the umbilical cord of a newborn is inflamed

Inflammation of the umbilical cord of a newborn - If the baby's umbilical cord falls off late, the jelly tissue of the umbilical cord will easily become a place for bacteria to breed, causing inflammation of the baby's umbilical cord. Inflammation of the umbilical cord will initially cause redness and swelling of the umbilical cord and surrounding tissues, with sticky or purulent secretions and a foul odor. If not treated in time, it can cause cellulitis of the abdominal wall, forming abscesses and necrosis, and bacteria can invade the blood circulation along the unclosed umbilical blood vessels, causing sepsis.

If the baby's navel inflammation symptoms are not very serious, parents can apply 1% gentian violet to the baby and keep it dry and clean. If there is a lot of pus, the baby should be taken to the hospital every day to change the dressing and use antibacterial drugs in time under the guidance of the doctor. Once an abscess is formed, it should be incised and drained to prevent the situation from getting worse.

What are the symptoms of omphalitis?

1. The baby’s navel takes too long to heal after birth, more than one and a half months.

2. The navel is moist, and the skin around the navel is red and swollen.

3. There is bleeding or even pus discharge from the navel, and the secretions have an odor.

4. Small red dots appear deep in the navel, and blood oozes out when touched. When the baby has the above symptoms, the mother should suspect that the baby has omphalitis.

Nursing of neonatal omphalitis step by step

First, you can use a sterilized cotton swab dipped in 75% alcohol or 5% povidone-iodine to wipe around the baby's navel 2-3 times a day. When disinfecting, the mother opens the baby's navel with the index finger and thumb of her left hand, and uses a cotton swab dipped in the solution in her right hand to apply the solution to the baby's navel in a spiral shape from the inside to the outside, covering a circle with a diameter of about 3 cm.

The second step is that after disinfecting the baby's navel, the mother should cover the baby's exposed navel with clean gauze to prevent infection.

The third step is that if the baby's umbilical infection does not improve after several days of anti-inflammatory and disinfection, the mother should take the baby to the hospital for treatment. In addition, ask the doctor to check whether the baby's navel is connected to the bladder or rectum.

Treatment of neonatal omphalitis

Pay attention to keep the umbilical cord area dry and prevent urine contamination. You can use 3% hydrogen peroxide to rinse the area 2-3 times and then disinfect it with iodine tincture, or apply deiodinated alcohol and gentian violet 2-3 times a day.

For antibiotic treatment, ampicillin is generally used in the neonatal period and has a very good effect. For those who have formed abscesses, timely incision, drainage and dressing should be performed.

If chronic granulomas have formed, local cauterization should be performed with 10% silver nitrate or a silver nitrate stick. If the granulomas are large and difficult to cauterize, surgical resection should be performed.