How long can a baby's belly button be wet?

The baby's belly button is a very critical part. It is also connected to an important part of the newborn's body, so it cannot touch water before it fully recovers. If there is suppuration and infection, it is necessary to take anti-inflammatory and treatment in time. Wait until the scab on the belly button has begun to fall off slowly and the local area has completely healed before taking a bath and touching water.

The most important thing in raising a newborn baby is feeding and caring for him. When raising a newborn baby, the umbilical cord care of the newborn is an important part that deserves great attention.

The umbilical cord is the link between the fetus and the mother. It contains two umbilical arteries and one umbilical vein, which are the channels for transporting nutrients and oxygen within the fetus. After a newborn is born, the umbilical cord is clamped, ligated, and cut off, and the stump often dries up and falls off within 1-3 days after birth. After that, the blood vessels in the umbilicus contract, and the umbilical skin is pulled inward and sunken, forming an umbilical pit, which is usually called the belly button.

Stage 1: Before the umbilical cord falls off

After the umbilical cord is cut, a wound is formed, which is an important portal for bacteria to invade the newborn's body. In mild cases, it can cause omphalitis, and in severe cases, it often leads to sepsis and death. Therefore, the disinfection and care of the umbilical cord is very important: before the umbilical cord falls off, the local area needs to be kept clean and dry, especially the diaper should not cover the navel, so as to avoid wetting the umbilical wound after urination. Always check whether there is any bleeding outside the gauze bandage. If bleeding occurs, it needs to be re-ligated to stop the bleeding. If there is no bleeding, just wipe the base of the umbilical cord with a 75% alcohol cotton swab every day and wait for it to fall off naturally.

After the umbilical cord falls off, there will often be a small amount of exudate in the navel fossa. At this time, you can use a 75% alcohol cotton swab to clean the navel fossa and then cover it with sterilized gauze. In the past, some people advocated applying 1% gentian violet (gentian violet) topically, because gentian violet has bactericidal and astringent effects. However, due to its weak penetrating power, sometimes a scab has formed on the epidermis while an abscess is underneath. Therefore, most people now advocate using a cotton swab dipped in 75% alcohol for disinfection.