cord care

Q. · Jul 7, 2001

Our facility actually abandoned the practice of swabbing the cord with alcohol after the current literature suggested that cords swabbed with alcohol have no lesser incidence of infection than cords that were not swabbed.

Also, we remove the clamp per nursing judgement.

l&dguru · Jul 9, 2001

At the hospital I work in we still use triple dye and then alcohol with every diaper change.

NewbornNurseRN · Jan 28, 2002

Our policy is that we remove within 24hrs....we also use the triple dye........I hate this stuff.......I am very particular with this trying not to get it all over the baby...but some nurses I think triple dye everything but the cord....lol........we teach the moms to alcohol every diaper change..........in my 9 years I have never seen an infected cord....

Sherry

semstr · Jan 29, 2002

we just let them dry, when infectionsigns are beginning we apply Beta.

Tell the parents to put the diaper under the stump, when it gets wet, dry it off with a clean, dry papertowel.

Clamp comes off, depending on how dry the stump is, usually after 24 hours.

(the 5.5 kg, 60 cm boy, we had a few weeks ago, took 4 days!! Mum was not a diabetic, but 1.90m and 100kg, dad 2.05m and about 120 kg. Normal birth, no epi, no rupture, but not enough milk!!)

Take care, Renee

OBNURSEHEATHER · Jan 29, 2002

We have a doc now that does not want triple dye or alcohol on her cords. THE ONLY DOC! Not that I have a strong opinion either way, but this is what I was taught, it's part of our baby assessment, and it's a hard habit to break. The triple dye is easier. It's a one time order that can be easily carried out. But the alcohol... it's not an order... just a nursing policy... part of our routine assessment.

I guess I just wish our hospital would take a stand and quit doing it all together. All of the other docs DON'T care. I'm all for one less thing to do!

On another note... my post above was the first time I ever posted here! HAHA!

Heather

kennedyj · Jan 30, 2002

Originally posted by semstr
(the 5.5 kg, 60 cm boy, we had a few weeks ago, took 4 days!! Normal birth, no epi, no rupture, but not enough milk!!)

Take care, Renee

now you gotta admit that her hips were meant for childbearing. lol. wow a 5500 g baby!

MelissaCT · Jan 31, 2002

I did my internship at Yale New Haven Hospital...their practice is no ETOH, because it is a preservative, and makes the cord stay on longer.

They don't do triple dye either.

I'm not sure what they do if there is an infection, because I never encountered that during my time there.

Melissa

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2002

How's this for screwy? Newborn nursery uses triple dye and NICU uses alcohol. From what I keep hearing neither one is necessary.

valene · Feb 23, 2002

one doc uses triple dye, one doc uses bacitracin, one doc uses alcohol. upon discharge we instruct the mom to apply alcohol twice a day. would like eventually to go to all alcohol, or nothing at all

lm57lm57 · Mar 2, 2002

Originally posted by obnurseinNW
Just doing a little research on cord care and what other hospital and doctors are doing? How soon after clamping do you remove the clamp? Do you still remove it if the cord is moist? And is anyone still doing triple dye? Does anyone have any good reseach info on this? Thanks

Hello...this is my first post! I have been a nursery nurse since 1977 and have found that if a cord is still moist after 24 hours, the clamp may be causing the problem. Sometimes I find that the clamp "pulls" on the cord and actually causes the cord to start pulling away at the base. (This is even more common with smaller , thinner cords). After removing the clamp, I allow it to air dry after applying ETOH. This usually stops the problem. I have actually argued with co-workers about sending babies home with the clamp on. I just would not do this unless the baby is