Your New Baby: Helpful First-Aid Hints
Care of the Umbilical Cord:
- The end of the cord will fall off a couple of weeks after birth. Until it falls off, keep it clean and dry. Wipe the base of the cord one or two times each day with alcohol on a cotton swab to help dry it out.
- Keep the diaper below the cord.
- Call your baby’s doctor or nurse if the cord, or the area surrounding it, bleeds or oozes, has a bad odor or becomes red or irritated.
Care of the Circumcision:
- A circumcision should heal in seven to ten days.
- Put a little petroleum jelly on the tip of the irritated penis each time you change the diaper.
Care of Diaper Rash:
- Change diapers often.
- Wash your baby’s bottom with warm water at each change and let it dry before diapering.
- After washing, use zinc oxide or another diaper cream on irritated areas.
Handling Colic:
Colic is from pain in the baby's stomach, but the cause of colic is still unknown. Babies with colic cry loudly and for a long time and often draw their legs up against their stomach. Colic often occurs in the evening and can last for more than an hour.
The cause of colic is still unknown. Make sure your baby is not crying for some other reasons such as a wet diaper, hunger, too much or not enough clothing or loneliness. Sometimes colic occurs for a medical reason. If it continues, call your baby’s doctor or nurse.
When to Call Your Baby’s Doctor
Call your doctor or nurse if your baby is younger than 2 months old and any of the following occur:
- Has breathing problems.
- Has a temperature higher than 100° F.
- Vomits more than two or three times in a day.
- Passes blood or blood clots with urine or bowel movement.
- Looks yellow or jaundiced.
- Has a convulsion.
- Seems weak, or has no energy to cry as loudly as usual.
- Just doesn’t “seem right” and you are worried.
- Will not breastfeed or take a bottle.
- Has redness, swelling, discharge or odor at the circumcision site or umbilical cord site.
This page last updated on 4/14/08.