# 7 weeks old, navel bellybutton not healed



## Nimm2 (Apr 11, 2008)

The cord stump only fell off after 2 weeks. Maybe because of the minimum daily bath babies get here in Thailand due to heat and being handled with sweaty hands etc. The first days in hospital it was 2 baths a day as well as the generous amounts of Betadine applied for the first 3 weeks, not letting it dry properly.

Since it fell off the navel has been wet and oozing with a yellowish crust building up around it and slime inside. There is some bit of flesh inside it that looks weird. One day at 5 weeks it was bleeding a little bit, too.

At the 1 month check-up the Ped was concerned about it and cleaned it and said to make sure we always dry it completely with cotton buds after a bath.

Since then we dry it with cotton buds at every diaper change and after baths, but it's unchanged. Every 2, 3 hours its wet again and has a bit of light slime in it again.

I don't know what a healed navel looks like at 7 weeks, but I guess my sons doesn't look normal.

See the photo:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/c4605ce652.jpg

What should I do about it?

The baths aren't going to stop and DP is against any ideas I find online like Goldenseal powder, which I even have at home.

I don't know if I should just put it in without his approval but I would not be happy if he would do things to my son without my OK either ...

I am worried to go to the 2 month appointment and the Ped might want to do some procedure or something and I am not informed about the option and what's actually wrong and how bad it is.


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## rachaelmomma (Jun 19, 2007)

That looks just like my DS1s did when he was about that age. He had a teeny tiny bit of cord stump left over (that's what that black thing is from the looks of the picture) that had a tiny bit of attachment left on it. I think at two months when it was still on, my ped did a sliver nitrate treatment, and it came off in his office. He had said it was unusual for kids to hang on to a bit of cord that long, but not unheard of. Try and clean under the black part if you can, that is what we had to do until he decided to "help" it come off in his office that day. It really helped with the oozing and bleeding once we figured out we could clean with a q-tip under and around the edges a bit. We just used water I think, but it made a big difference!


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## Nimm2 (Apr 11, 2008)

The picture isn't very clear despite macro function. There isn't actually any black part at all.

The bit of flesh inside in the middle is flesh color and where it's dark on the photo, is the cavitiy inside the navel.


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## rachaelmomma (Jun 19, 2007)

Oh, then I have no idea. I hope you get it figured out!


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## allborntogrow (Dec 31, 2007)

I couldn't get the photo to load but it sounds like a navel granuloma, which my son had. It's a bit of the vessel left after the cord stump falls off. Ped shoud do silver nitrate and it will shrivel right up.

Does it look a little bit like an "outie" but kind of raw?


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## majikfaerie (Jul 24, 2006)

I understand your DP is very fixed in his ways, but would it be possible to bathe the baby with a wet cloth rather than immersing in water, just till it's healed? Letting it really dry out properly, and stay fully dry would probably be the best course. Honey is also good for newborn navels, and is mildly antibiotic.
Can you get him to at least listen to information about golden seal powder? Perhaps if you could find a nice page of info about the golden seal you could translate it for him.
I think, failing that, you should go to the ped, and have it looked at. Without seeing it I don't think I could say any more.


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## mama to 2 girls (Dec 11, 2006)

I couldn't get the pic to come up but what you are describing sound like what happened with ds but only his cord didn't fall off. I took him into the ped because I was worried about the funny smell it had and goldenseal wasn't helping...So she did a silver nitrate treatment and told me after 24 hrs. to keep cleaning it with alcohol and it feel off within a couple days. It was still a little wet looking even after it fell off, like what you are describing and I kept up with the alcohol and it healed right up. HTH!


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## MamaRabbit (May 26, 2005)

Hey T, both my twins did the same thing. The climate does not help with keeping things dry. I'd try no immersion baths. Their navels still flare up. Pediatrician looked at them and said it would eventually stop on its own and to just keep it dry. I don't think they had any extra "navel granuloma" but the navels didn't completely close for a long time either. (I posted on that a while back too).


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## love2bmom (Jan 26, 2005)

My fourth babe took forever to heal up too. A midwife friend recommended that we open Goldenseal capsules (powder) and put a little on the navel a few times a day. It's drying as well as being antibacterial. She also mentioned to be very careful not to get any on the baby's hands or face, etc as it can be very irritating to the eyes and mucus membranes. I just opened the capsule in a little cup and used a Q-tip (cotton bud) to apply the powder directly to the navel. It worked great and all was healed up in a few days.


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## Nimm2 (Apr 11, 2008)

After reading about the granuloma, it very much sounds like that's what it is.

It's a piece of tissue inside the navel, it does not stick out of the navel but sits inside the cavity and one has to hold the navel open a bit to see it sitting inside.

The doctor did not mention "granuloma" when he saw it at the 4 wk appointment. He just said it had not healed properly and to keep it dry.

The thing is it's not possible to keep the inside where the piece of tissue sits exposed to air without holding the navel open.

It seems options are the silver nitrate, chemically burning the little piece of tissue off, with risk of causing burns to healthy skin around, Liquid nitrogen to freeze it or tying it off. An alternative seems to be a treatment with salt to dry it out, has anyone tried that?


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## allborntogrow (Dec 31, 2007)

If the ped puts vaseline around the belly button and he's careful he'll be able to apply the silver nitrate without burning the healthy skin. A good ped will probably have done this a bunch of times and will use the absolute minimum necessary.


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## heidirk (Oct 19, 2007)

I'm thinking a saline application daily would be gently drying w/o killing new skin cells. I'd also try the honey as well.

IMHO alchohol does more harm than good.


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## MissRubyandKen (Nov 2, 2005)

My dd had a granuloma. It did take awhile, but it healed up nicely. I was just doing sponge baths and then when I realized it was a granuloma I did start cleaning it out with alcohol. In this case drying it and keeping it dry does not do more harm than good. I would try alcohol before anything else (obviously that's what I did







). I left dd's navel exposed to air always also. Which was a bit tricky as she was a Feb. baby. I did no tees and left the middle of her sleeper unbuttoned. Also be sure the diaper is not touching the navel at all. I had no intention of using alcohol as it is no longer the recommended thing to do, but when my elder dd and ds were born it was 'the thing to do' and their's both healed up nicely with no problems at all. With my new baby her's bled for quite a bit and developd a blood blister, then the granuloma became apparent, all before alcohol was ever used. Trust I'm not advocating it for a button that is healing nicely on its own, but under the circumstances I would certainly try it before silver nitrate.


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## Nimm2 (Apr 11, 2008)

I decided to try the salt as described in this small study here:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...70&postcount=3

So far it seems to be working exactly as described in the study.


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## majikfaerie (Jul 24, 2006)

glad to hear it.


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## MissRubyandKen (Nov 2, 2005)

So glad it is working for you. I had read about it too, but was hesitant to try because it was only one small study. I was worried the granules might rub and cause irritation. I should have been gotten brave and given it a chance as I know how good salt can be for other wounds. I'd had experience using alcohol so it was in my comfort zone as we'd had no ill effects from it at all. The doctor would have had me putting vaseline on it







. Just one reason we are no longer with that practice.


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## majikfaerie (Jul 24, 2006)

any update, nimm?


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## Pastrydemon (Feb 3, 2005)

DS's cord stump fell of early. Your photo is not super clear but it looks a little like my DS's. The ped. ended up cauterizing it w/ a bit of silver nitrate (painless -- he didn't even wince) and then rx'ing a topical antibiotic as he had a bit of a staph infection.


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## Nimm2 (Apr 11, 2008)

Summary of my experience with Umbilical Granuloma

After I described the condition of my babies navel in the first post of this thread, 'umbilical granuloma' was mentioned.

From the description of it and descriptions of similar conditions I concluded it sounds like the umbilical granuloma:

from: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_umbigran_hhg.htm

Quote:

*What is an umbilical granuloma?*

An umbilical granuloma is a piece of tissue that remains on your baby's belly button after the umbilical cord falls off. Rather than healing up and becoming covered with skin, a bright red stalk of tissue remains on the belly button. It has a grainy surface and produces sticky mucus. Without treatment, it could ooze and become an irritation for several months.
See another description of the UG: http://www.drhull.com/EncyMaster/U/u...granuloma.html

This is what my baby had, a piece of flesh, pinkish left inside the bellybutton, and the bellybutton constantly wet and sticky even if dried out with a cotton bud at each diaper change. It wasn't bleeding, just oozing sticky clear fluid that formed a yellow crust if it dried outside the bellybutton.

Majikfaerie then mentioned putting on salt is supposed to help.

So I searched for this and found the study I mentioned earlier posted in another thread on MDC.

For those who didn't read the study. *The salt treatment consists of applying a pinch of common salt over the lesion (the piece of flesh inside the bellybutton) for half an hour. Thereafter, the lesion would be cleansed using a cotton ball soaked in boiled water.
The procedure is repeated twice a day for three consecutive days.*
In some cases, the procedure was only carried out for one day, and no evidence of the Granuloma was apparent on the third day.

Before the salt treatment you can see in the picture on the right the piece of flesh inside my babies bellybutton when the bellybutton was held open:
http://website.huhttp://pixelshack.com/img/55711navel.jpg
and
http://website.huhttp://pixelshack.com/img/219597navel3.jpg

The left picture shows how no air could come in there to dry it without being held open, so even at 7 weeks of age it had not healed, just continued oozing sticky fluid every day and being closed by the sticky fluid.

*What I did*
I did the salt application for 1 day (two treatments) and as described in the study there was some blood appearing inside the bellybutton, well the study described it as "discharge of a cherry black secretion from the lesion on the first day of therapy, after which, frank shrinkage and gradual healing of the lesion was apparent".
I think one should be aware that it will bleed and so I prefer to say blood rather than a cherry black secretion, lol.

The small piece of pink flesh turned dark red after the first salt application. At that time it didn't shrink yet. After the second salt application the slight bleeding continued and hours later, like majic, the piece of flesh almost disappeared! When holding the bellybutton open it was already hard to find. Absolutely amazing.
Like they say in the study, after only 1 day (two salt applications) I hardly felt it necessary to complete the recommended three day course of treatment, because the flesh was hardly there now and there was no longer any sticky fluid discharge, it stayed pretty dry now.

On the second day I had no chance to do the salt application, because I was doing it without DPs approval and it was already hard enough to put the salt into the bellybutton secretly and then hide the bleeding on the first day.

On the second day there must have still been a tiny bit of blood that came out and DP must have seen it as being a bit red and asked if I had put anything in. I hate lying, I just said I kept it dry all day long like the doctor said and that I think its healing now ...







: Thankfully it mustn't have looked like real bleeding anymore or else we would have been off to hospital.

On the third day, when looking carefully I could still see a tiny bit of the fleshy bit deep inside the bellybutton, but no sticky discharge anymore. Still I was worried it might grow back or something, so I managed one more salt application for 30 minutes on the beginning of the 3rd day.

First there was no bleeding at all, not like the first day, after 5, 6 hours a tiny bit and after that it was all dry and now I can't find the bit of flesh at all anymore.

I will see maybe I put salt in once more just to make sure, but this absolutely amazing how quickly and well this worked.


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## majikfaerie (Jul 24, 2006)

wow, Nimm!






















seriously, thankyou for this post. I'm well impressed with your thoroughness, and I'm so glad the treatment worked for you







(bookmarking this thread for future reference)


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## CookAMH (Jun 2, 2008)

That's so cool! I learned something new. Fascinating!


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