★★★★★
The typical United States recommendation for umbilical cord stump care in newborns is to clean the umbilical stump with rubbing alcohol at each diaper change. I did this faithfully for all of my babies and none ever did have infection. However, my children's umbilical stump hung on for weeks! One child has his for 7 weeks before it fell off. And I used cloth diapers for him so I was changing him (and cleaning the cord) very often.
With my last baby, I had learned about using goldenseal root and oregon grape root. Both were powdered. I would sprinkle some of this on to the cord stump at every diaper change. The goldenseal is strong and didn't smell the best. It also can stain clothing. BUT that baby's cord stump dried up and fell off when he was 8 days old. I tend to think that turmeric would work the same way, but have no way to try that out.
It was a relief to have that taken care of so quickly and I would recommend herb powder over alcohol to anyone.
~Mama to Many~
