Isabelles came off today  quite a momentous occassion ... we hadnt done anything to it ... apart from clean it with alcohol swabs every second day (to keep it from attaching again) .... it was hanging on by a thread this morning then after her bath it just came off

We were told to put Daniel in the sun for 10 minutes in the morning before it is too strong.  But in the house where he was protected from the wind.  Both of us decided 5 minutes was long enough.  The midwife laughed at our concerns and said 10minutes in the early morning sun for a few days will be fine.  So we did this at about 9.00-9.30am in the morning.  He loved it - totally nude in the warmth of the sun!  But we stopped once his jaundice was better so only did this for 4 days. His  cord was still fresh at this stage and it definately helped with drying it up.

Both my boys were early (within a week). They both had Jaundise so had to be sunbathed naked often.

It has been shown that meths and other stuff like dettol are bad for healing worse as it is too harsh on the healing tissue. It also does sting as it would if you were putting it on a wound. Now a days all that is used to clean wounds is saline (salty water) this is best practice when promoting healing in any wound. Even if an infection is present that is all that is used to clean it out.

SOunds like you a have a stubborn cord there  Freesia, maybe it is healing from the botton up (granulation healing) which is fine. Just keep an eye out for infection including swelling, discharge or smell. If you notice any of the above then take he in to see the GP. Otherwise just continue to bath her as normal with no special care to the umbilicus.

Daniels came off in about 6 days, he had a bit of jaundice and was having 10 mins sunning time in the mornings the MW said this will help his umbilical cord - so maybe it did help.  He had a little bit of black left in his belly button but that washed out in the bath a couple of days later and he was fully healed.