You always see the doctor cut the cord and then carry the baby away.
What do they do? Pull the cord? Does it just come away? Or do they cut it to shape?
I’m 26. This all makes me squeamish. Plz hlp.
In: Biology
Thanks, everyone.
I actually have a vivid picture of this process now, unfortunately.
Nice one, internet.
The umbilical cord naturally dies and falls off of a newborn baby relatively shortly after birth, within a few weeks. Similar to old dead skin flaking off your body.
So, what happens after birth but before it dies and falls away?
Generally it gets cut/snipped a couple inches away from the baby by the medical staff, then this extra umbilical cord still hanging on the baby is just wrapped around soemthing/tied in a knot to keep it from flopping around and getting in the way until it falls off.
For what decides if you have an innie or an outtie, this actually isn’t decided by anyone and has nothing to do with how the umbilical cord is handled, instead it is just a random chance that fluid builds up in the belly button, kind of like a ballon, creating an outtie
They put a peg around an inch away from the belly and another peg about two inches away. Then cut between the two pegs. Then the leftover umbilical cord (with the first peg on) falls off maybe a week later, leaving a bellybutton. How it forms as an innie or outie is entirely random (so I believe).
You have to clean it regularly to prevent infection.
Source: have cut two umbilical cords and cleaned around the belly buttons until the umbilical part falls off.
The cord will dry out after a while and will fall off. The bellybutton is healed by then. Usually it fall off after about 10 days.
Babies get an outie if the cord wasn’t cut short enough or if the baby cried too much while it heals (they basically cry it out)
When they cut the cord, some stays on. Just a few cm.
That then rots away and falls off after a few days, leaving a belly button.
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