Umbilical care and umbilical hernia
Child; hernia; umbilicus; umbilical; belly; button; belly button; navel; umbilical hernia; infant; baby; cord; gramuloma; tummy;
Contents
Caring for your baby's umbilicus
(tummy button, belly button)
After the cord is cut at birth, your baby will be left with a short stump of cord attached to the umbilicus.
- This soon dries up, turns brown to black, then falls off. This may happen in a few days or may take as long as a week or two.
- As the cord is separating, and for a few days after it comes off, the umbilicus can look raw and sticky. There may be some discharge (yellow to dark brown), which may smell strange. This is normal and it doesn’t need any special treatment.
- All you need to do is keep the area clean with normal washing or bathing. Leave it dry and exposed to the air. Cover with light clothing, but do not bandage or put any antiseptic lotions or creams on it.
- A few years ago, it was recommended that alcohol or a similar antiseptic was used. It is now known that this makes it take longer for the cord to come off as it kills off the normal skin bugs that help the cord separate.
Infection
- If there is a sticky discharge or pus for longer than the first few days after the cord comes off, check with your doctor. There may be a mild infection that does need treatment with an antiseptic or antibiotic cream.
- At any stage if you notice redness, heat or swelling of the skin around the umbilicus, especially if the baby is unwell (feverish, poor feeding), see a doctor as soon as possible because antibiotics may need to be given quickly.
Granuloma
- Sometimes after the umbilicus is healed, there will be a small, pink, moist lump in the middle. This is likely to be a granuloma.
- It is quite harmless, but it may stay there for a long time unless it is treated. Ask your doctor to look at it, perhaps at the 6 week check-up.
An umbilical hernia is very common in children. It appears as a small lump near the umbilicus (navel or belly-button). It usually causes no problems and goes away as the child grows.
- A hernia is the lump that appears when part of the body pushes through an opening or weak spot in a muscle wall.
- This happens most often around the abdomen (tummy area):
- an inguinal hernia (in the groin)
- a hiatus hernia (where part of the stomach pushes up through the diaphragm into the chest area),
- an umbilical hernia.
- An umbilical hernia happens when the muscles around the umbilicus (belly button) have a gap between them, so that part of the gut or other tissue in the abdomen can poke through.
- An umbilical hernia is quite common in young children, when the muscles are relatively weak, but a lot less common in older children and young adults because the muscles become stronger, closing off the gap.
- Some adults develop an umbilical hernia when the pressure in the tummy is greater than the strength of the muscles which close off the gap (eg during pregnancy or in an older, overweight person).
Problems from an umbilical hernia
- Umbilical hernias in babies very rarely cause problems and are best left alone.
- Parts of the bowel can push through some umbilical hernias, particularly when pressure in the tummy rises (such as when a child cries or coughs). This can be pushed easily back into the tummy, but it does not matter if some usually stays pushed through the hernia.
- The main problem with an umbilical hernia is the appearance of a bulge or lump. Young children are not worried by any discomfort, or by the appearance, but many parents would prefer that the bulge was not there.
- Some hernias - but not umbilical ones - can cause problems when part of the bowel gets caught in the hernia. Inguinal hernias are usually operated on, because bowel getting trapped in them is quite common.
- If a baby has an umbilical hernia, most doctors will recommend that nothing is done, as most will close by themselves.
- As children get older and their tummy wall muscles get stronger, the gap will usually close, and the bulge goes away. While this often happens before the age of one, it may not happen until the child is four or five years old.
- If it does not close by itself, the gap can be closed by an operation if the appearance causes distress to children when they begin to be self aware (usually not until they are around 6 or older).
- This is a simple operation, but still it is usually recommended that it is done when the child is old enough to be able to understand what is happening, and when an anaesthetic can be given very safely (when the child is at least 4 years old).
- If the umbilical hernia does cause problems (it becomes painful and it cannot be gently pushed back into the tummy), the child needs to be checked urgently by a doctor. This is rare.
What treatment does not work?
In the past some people recommended strapping the tummy or placing a coin on the hernia and then putting on strapping. These seemed to work, because the hernia did eventually go away, but it has been shown by research that the gap which causes the hernia will close just as quickly without strapping.
The information on this site should not be used as an alternative to professional care. If you have a particular problem, see a doctor, or ring the Parent Helpline on 1300 364 100 (local call cost from anywhere in South Australia).
This topic may use 'he' and 'she' in turn - please change to suit your
child's sex.