It’s important to try to avoid any infection or even irritation of the baby’s belly button. Parents should keep the baby dry and clean until it falls off on its own.
This might be the answer to how to prevent an outie belly button in a newborn.
Don’t shower the baby for too long, and use sponge baths instead. Try to keep it dry as possible, and keep it away from the dipper to avoid any kind of irritation.
Your baby’s outie belly button is a result of the opening in the abdominal wall where his umbilical cord was attached. The skin over this opening is very thin and contains no muscle, so it forms a weak spot just as your belly button does.
When the muscles around the navel become too large for this gap to handle, they push through and cause what we know as an outie. It usually takes three or four months to close on its own, but there are some things that can speed up the process:
- Apply petroleum jelly to young babies’ umbilical hernias several times a day. This will help prevent dirt and other microbes from entering and possibly infecting the area.
- Do not apply pressure directly. There are cases when people try to push the belly by themselves, and this is highly not recommended because you can hurt your baby.
The outie belly might be the sign of an umbilical hernia. The umbilical hernia is an opening in the abdominal wall near or through which an organ may protrude. This opening allows some of the contents of the abdomen to push through the muscle and skin near the belly button (navel).
Oddly enough, outie belly isn’t related to whether your child will have an umbilical hernia or not. It doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with umbilical hernias. While one third of children have their umbilical hernia disappear by age of two, about 60 percent are still present at puberty.
Will my baby’s outie belly button go away?
It will probably not go away because that’s how the navel is shaped. There goes the answer to how to prevent an outie belly button in a newborn. Parents should not try to push it inside because doing that can even cause harm to the baby.
If your baby has an umbilical hernia and the result of it is the outie belly, there’s no need for concern. If the bulge on the belly is still soft and compressible, without causing any discomfort to your little one, it shouldn’t be an issue.
When babies have hernias, they have a tendency to go away on their own without going to the surgery. This should happen in the first year of the child’s life until the 18th month. The surgery for closing the hole is performed in very rare cases.
When the baby is born with an outie belly, parents are concerned about it. Is it dangerous, will it go away, and what can parents do to help the child?
What causes outie belly button?
The reason for the baby’s outie belly is the umbilical granuloma. In this case, the belly button stump is encircled with extra tissue. This can cause increased pressure on the belly button, resulting in an outie belly. It is usually treated with topical applications in order to get rid of the excess skin.
All children are born with an umbilical cord attached to the abdomen by a small stump which helps connect them to their mothers during pregnancy. This allows for nourishment through blood flow from the placenta to the baby.
After birth, this connection between mother and baby must be broken so that doctors can properly care for your baby without disturbing your little one’s breathing.
What determines if a baby has an innie or outie belly button?
There are two looks of the belly. Some of them look like they are more out while some are more in. It might sound weird or confusing but it is exactly like this.
When the belly looks more out or called outie belly, the tissue pokes out from the belly button, it is also differently called convex belly. Another one looks like the tissue is on the inside, so the name is innie belly or concave.
The main reason behind the look of the belly is the way the umbilical cord was attached, rather than where it was cut.
So, before you seek an answer on how to prevent an outie belly button in a newborn, try to accept that this is the normal look and it happens to a lot of babies. The most important thing is the baby’s health.
What causes a protruding belly button in babies?
The protruding belly button can happen when the baby has an umbilical hernia.
It’s the condition when intestines, fluids, or fats pass through weak spots or holes in the newborns’ stomach muscles. In this case, the bulge appears in the navel or near the belly button, and it can give a look like it’s swollen.
This isn’t something to worry about, because many babies have it right after birth and it’s usually gone by itself. If it does not go away on its own you can have surgery to repair the hole when your child is older. The surgery involves closing up the hole so that it becomes flat with the rest of your baby’s belly surface.
Summary
Belly buttons in babies can be shaped differently. Sometimes they look like they are more out and sometimes like they are more in. Both cases are pretty normal. When the belly is out or when the baby has the outie belly, parents are concerned about the newborn’s health.
The reason why your baby has belly shaped out is that it probably has umbilical granuloma. On the baby’s navel, you can see a reddish lump of a mass that is moist, and that represents umbilical granuloma. It is usually shown in the first weeks of a newborn’s life and it’s not causing any pain to the baby.
Because of this condition, many parents ask how to prevent an outie belly button in a newborn. So, there are not a lot of things you can do because the reason why your baby’s belly looks like that is because of the way the umbilical cord was attached.
However you can try to prevent it from any infection or irritation, and you can try to put in a little bit of petroleum jelly.
