Smelly Belly Button on 2-week old

SoonToBeShafer

Our pediatrician told us NOT to use alcohol on belly button, and to let the natural bacteria take care of it.

But my kid stinks! We gave him a bath on Saturday, so I know he's clean. Saturday afternoon, I thought he smelled. I thought it was the PJ's that my MIL put on him. Finally yesterday, I smelled his belly button and almost passed out.

I'm calling my doc this morning. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

Parks2Be

Hasn't happened to me but I have heard of it happening. Sorry! Not sure what you can do but let me know what your pedi says in case it happens over here!?

tcwedding03

Is the cord still on?  DD's cord was awful smelling. I used witch hazel on a tissue to wipe it off.

 What's funny is the discharge papers said do nothing with it, but out ped's office said do use alcohol wipes.

Once her cord fell off, we had to get silver nitrate on it to help it heal faster.  Now it doesn't smell anymore.

MizzC

My DS's belly button smelled AWFUL for almost a whole week before the cord fell off.  He smelled like rotting fish and I actually remember being kind of embarrassed when I took him to see some friends because he smelled so bad.  It wasn't infected or anything....it just took longer than normal for it to fall off and that was the reason for the smell.  I was also told not to use anything on his belly button by my pedi. 

littlebubba07

my dd's cord stump smelled sort of funny at 2 weeks... i had been using rubbing alcohol but not getting way down in there ( some drs instruct you to do that some don't.)  however i don't think getting it wet in the bath will help the smell because it needs to dry out to fall off. technically it is sort of rotting... sounds gross but true. call your dr to make sure but if there isn't any redness along with stench it is probably ok (no infection).  i was worried too and called the doc  (on her cell on a sunday!)... let it air out if you can.  that will help dry it out My dd's fell off after 3 weeks, no prob.

hj_1235

You need to clean it. We had this happen and took her to Pedi. You have to use a q-tip to get under the cord. All the green/yellow gunk you see is bad bacteria and if you don't get it out it will get infected. It is ok to use the alcohol..you do need to get it way down in there though. It will help dry it out.

We actually had to help pull DDs stump off (per pedi advice) because it was so close to infection and had so much gunk under it. We called her roadkill because she smelled just like a dead animal!

SoonToBeShafer

Dr. said that the smell is normal, and that going forward, I should use the alcohol on it and clcean it really good. Hopefully, it will fall off soon. I like the term "road kill", and think that is a more fitting description of the smell!