Surely in the photo, which depicts the tummies of pregnant women, you paid attention to the funny shape of their navel. Most often, during pregnancy, the navel protrudes slightly forward and turns into a small button. Have you thought about why this happens? We are sure that our article will explain not only the physiological causes of the phenomenon, but also free your thoughts from unnecessary worries about this.

When and why does the navel change shape during pregnancy?

With the beginning of the second trimester, the fetus in the uterus begins to grow actively, the abdomen noticeably increases. Just between 20-25 weeks of pregnancy, many women note that the navel seems to have crawled out, changing its usual shape. If such metamorphoses do not cause severe pain, there is no reason for concern.

To understand why the navel protrudes in pregnant women, we suggest turning to the physiology and processes occurring in the body of a pregnant woman. As the abdomen grows, the tension of the anterior abdominal wall increases. The skin on the abdomen is stretched, the diameter of the umbilical ring increases. In addition, the growing fetus puts pressure on the internal organs, trying to take a comfortable position in the uterine cavity. It's physiological natural process. It shouldn't cause you concern. Do not panic even if you feel a slight pain, itching in the navel.

Tip: To reduce the discomfort of stretching the skin, regularly use creams, active moisturizing lotions, oils.

How much the navel will come out during pregnancy and whether it will come out at all depends on several factors:

• complexion, weight of a woman;
• skin elasticity;
• preparedness of the abdominal muscles;
• the number of pregnancies;
• age;
• fruit size;
• features of the structure of internal organs.

The degree of protrusion of the navel is affected even by the race of a woman. Most likely, you will not be able to influence this process, so accept the "new" navel and enjoy its appearance. After the birth of the baby, the navel will take on its usual shape.

The belly button darkens during pregnancy

The darkening of the navel during the period of expectation of the child should not scare you either. Such changes also have completely natural causes.

Pregnancy is accompanied by serious hormonal changes. The hormone of the adrenal cortex begins to be produced more actively, increasing skin pigmentation. So, the accumulation of dyes during pregnancy can manifest itself:

• darkening of the navel;
• the appearance of a strip Brown color along the abdomen;
• discoloration of the nipples and areolas;
• pigment spots on the face and body.

Caused by hormonal changes, as a rule, passes one to two months after the birth of the baby. The exception is the color of the areolas. The acquired skin tone in this area persists even after pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Umbilical hernia: causes, treatment

Normally, slight pain in the navel area is acceptable. As we found out, it occurs due to excessive skin tension. Why then is it impossible to do without a visit to the doctor if the pregnant navel sticks out too much and at the same time there are pain? The fact is that in the presence of such symptoms, the risk of developing an umbilical hernia is not excluded. Of course, you can’t do without a doctor’s examination, but you can independently recognize a hernia by the following criteria:

• seals around the navel;
• a feeling of pulsation in the designated area;
• significant protrusion of the navel;
• sometimes nausea.

To assess the severity of the problem, you will need to consult a surgeon. He will either prescribe a minor operation or recommend:

• use ;
• regularly use special ointments;
• avoid constipation, bloating, to eliminate excessive stress on the hernia.

Pain in the navel as a symptom of the disease

Other possible reason pain in the navel - disorders in the gastrointestinal tract. It can be either a chronic pathology, aggravated during pregnancy, or an acute intestinal infection.

Important: call an ambulance immediately if pain in the navel during pregnancy is accompanied by diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever.

Intoxication caused by an intestinal infection is extremely dangerous for the fetus, and the intestinal tone that increases with this disease inevitably leads to uterine hypertonicity in a woman.

Much less often, pain in the navel indicates appendicitis. To high temperature, nausea, cutting pains in the right side join. Try to calm down as much as possible, take a comfortable position and wait for the doctor.

Attention: if appendicitis is suspected, self-medication is strictly prohibited.

Navel piercing during pregnancy

Deserves special attention. It doesn't matter if you pierced your navel long before pregnancy or just before you found out about your position, it is better to remove the jewelry. This opinion is shared by most of the gynecologists.

Important: do not pierce the navel during pregnancy, as the risk of infection, suppuration increases dramatically.

Of course, there is a chance that the hole in the navel will grow during pregnancy. However, the dangers that may lie in wait for you when wearing an earring are much more significant.

Folk omens

Our grandmothers loved to predict the gender of the unborn baby by the shape of the belly, the gastronomic preferences of a woman during pregnancy. But it turns out that the sex of the crumbs can also be determined by changes in the navel. For example, prepare clothes blue color followed by those women whose navel turned out and stuck up during pregnancy. Stomach future mother at the same time, it should be of a sharp form.

On the contrary, a blurry, wide belly and a navel sticking down speaks of the birth of a female child.

Today, such superstitions are perceived by pregnant women with a smile. As practice shows, the sex of the child depends solely on internal, complex processes and does not affect the external changes of the expectant mother.

The navel during pregnancy is able to transform. In most cases, this is a natural process that does not require correction or treatment. Enjoy your excellent condition and by all means during pregnancy do beautiful photo round belly with a navel-button.

The reason that the navel sticks out in a newborn is. This disease is quite common - 20-30 percent of children are already born with an umbilical hernia. Of course, the fact that a child's navel protrudes slightly scares parents, but there is nothing wrong with this disease. Let's look into this in more detail to understand where an umbilical hernia comes from and how to deal with it.

Why does a child's belly button stick out?

There can be several reasons for the appearance of an umbilical hernia:

• features of the body, the location of internal organs;
• weak abdominal wall or weak umbilical ring.

These are the reasons why the navel sticks out in a newborn, and if these reasons are present, there may not be a hernia at all, or it may appear later, and not immediately after birth. Pressure inside the peritoneum due to constipation, coughing, crying, colic can provoke an umbilical hernia. Also, the cause of the development of a hernia can be rickets.

What to do if the navel sticks out?

We figured out the reasons, so let's move on to how to cure this umbilical hernia. Firstly, it must be said right away that an operation is required only in the most exceptional cases, so you should not worry - you can save the child from an umbilical hernia on your own.

So, let's look at how you can get rid of an umbilical hernia.

By following the doctor's instructions, you can quickly and without problems get rid of your child's umbilical hernia.

The navel is, in a sense, pride. Many girls, in order to make their tummy even sexier, pierce the navel area, decorating it with earrings made of precious metals and stones. Agree, how nice it is when the navel resembles a neat dimple, and not the “third eye” turned outward. About how the umbilical cord is tied after childbirth, whether the mother properly looked after her will depend not only on the beauty of the navel, but also on the health of the baby.

As you know, during pregnancy, it is through the umbilical cord that nutrition and nutrients come from mother to child. Through it, waste products are removed. The umbilical cord is very important while the baby is in the womb. Especially dangerous during pregnancy. I hope you are not in danger.

With the birth of a child, the umbilical cord is cut at a distance of no more than 5 cm from the navel, and fixed with a special clamp.

Since the umbilical cord was a living part of the body, consisting of blood and tissues, it will take a long time to heal. The usual "button" on the stomach will not appear immediately.

Mom should be extremely careful to maintain hygiene in the navel of the child. This advice is relevant both throughout the entire healing period and after it.

Navel of a newborn: AFTER BIRTH

The first time the baby is placed on the breast, the umbilical cord pulsates reflexively for several minutes. The clamp is usually removed a few days after delivery. When discharged from the hospital, it will no longer be on the baby's body.

The navel of a newborn: THE FIRST WEEK OF LIFE

During the first 7 days of a newborn's life, the tied umbilical cord gradually dries up, turning into a dark or brown “stump”. Already on the 10th day, it should completely disappear. The formed navel of the newborn is still reddish, however, it should not look like an open wound, abscess or show signs of infection.

The navel of a newborn: THE FIRST MONTHS OF LIFE

The "button" heals slowly. Do not worry, you should not expect cardinal changes before 2-4 weeks. By about the second month of life, the wound will heal, in rare cases it happens later.

Belly button care rules:

- the matter, as they say, is master's, we already wrote about this in one of the previous publications. Water procedures are allowed already for 2-3 days. At the same time, it is enough to gently wipe the umbilical region with a clean and damp cloth.

Try not to touch the wound again until the navel has healed. Be patient. " General cleaning»in this place it is better to carry out after the skin is completely healed. Then rinse each crease, just do it, please, very carefully.

No need to tear or tuck the crusts. The cut section of the umbilical cord will dry out and fall off on its own. Otherwise, you risk provoking bleeding, and this is always the risk of infection.

Stay clean. Use diapers for newborns. They have a special recess that will provide the necessary air access and protect against unwanted irritations. The same applies to clothing. Choose cropped t-shirts and tank tops.

Any hygiene products for baby care should be agreed with your family pediatrician.

My baby is the center of the universe

What a newly-made mother sees in her crumbs in the navel area in the first days after the end of childbirth, in reality, still bears little resemblance to an ordinary, ordinary, human navel.

At the end of the circumcision of the umbilical cord, the doctor who took the baby leaves him with a small umbilical cord - almost a couple of centimeters long. After 4-10 days, this tail, having dried, will fall off on its own. And God forbid you try to get rid of it by any auxiliary means! Do not injure your own child with your own hands.

In fact, the still unhealed umbilical wound itself is what fundamental difference, which distinguishes newborn children from the general mass of infants. In medical science, the term newborn is commonly understood as a child in the first 28 days of his life. That is how much is normally required for the baby's navel to heal completely.

After the umbilical cord falls off, the wound still needs to be systematically taken care of, in particular: treat it with disinfectants, do not wet it with water (bathing a newborn baby is fundamentally different from bathing an older baby), once again do not touch it with your hands and try not to injure clothing or disposable diapers. In most cases, on average, the umbilical wound of a newborn completely heals in 20-30 days.

The umbilical "tail" in most cases disappears on its own approximately 4-5 days after the birth of the child.

Means for processing umbilical wound newborn

Even before childbirth, collecting a first-aid kit for a newborn, it is worth stocking up on funds for future care of the umbilical wound. They will be useful to the mother from the very beginning of the birth of the baby. A set of drugs is simple, unsophisticated and affordable:

Solution brilliant green (brilliant green)

Some modern pediatricians recommend using other, analog, antiseptics instead of brilliant green (which ones, specifically, the pediatrician will advise). The reason is that brilliant green stains the skin very strongly, and if the navel suddenly begins to fester or bleed, the mother may simply not notice these negative signs under the dark green paint layer.

Nowhere in the world, except on the territory of the former USSR, brilliant green is not used as a healing agent when treating the umbilical wound of a newborn. Moreover, by and large, few foreign doctors are aware of the existence of a drug like brilliant green.

Processing procedure: instruction

The umbilical wound of the newborn should be treated every day, preferably at the end of the evening bath.

A few words about swimming: Because the still unhealed navel of a baby is essentially a wound, then bathing a child in plain tap water (albeit with a succession) is forbidden for anything. But this does not mean that the baby does not lack hygiene. Your parents have little choice in this situation: either you use special wet baby wipes (not for long, but exactly until the umbilical wound heals and dries completely), or you bathe your baby in boiled and filtered water. to be guided to understand that not only bacteria, which can be in plain water, are terrible for the umbilical wound, but also the chemistry that is present in it, for example, bleach.

So, sequence of actions when treating the umbilical wound of a newborn is:

The baby should be undressed or swaddled, remove (or lower) the diaper.

After that, wipe the skin with wet wipes (instead of bathing), but at the same time without touching the navel area. Or, gently bathe the baby in a small tub of boiled water.

When using a towel, do not rub your baby's skin with it - just dip it as gently as possible until it dries completely.

Drop 2-3 drops of hydrogen peroxide directly into the umbilical wound. While peroxide hisses on the skin during the procedure, it means that the wound still sometimes bleeds (despite the fact that you have the opportunity not to notice traces of blood visually). And accordingly, this means that you need to apply peroxide the next day. But at the time when you see that the peroxide no longer foams during processing, this will serve as a sign for you that next time it may no longer be used.

Wait a few minutes. (while peroxide is in effect), then blot the navel with a cotton pad (in order to dry it a little).

Take a pipette, pick up a little brilliant green, and drip 1-2 drops directly into the baby's umbilical wound. Wait a little - and maybe dress the baby. If instead of brilliant green you begin to use another antiseptic, the doctor will advise you on how to just apply it to the child's navel.

Do not tease fate - refrain from the desire to pick at the baby's umbilical wound with cotton swabs in order to scrape off and remove dried crusts from it. They will do great on their own without your help! The less you mechanically touch the umbilical wound, the faster and better it will heal.

What can go wrong during the treatment of the umbilical wound of a newborn

Normally, the umbilical wound heals within two, maximum three, weeks. She can bleed for a maximum of 8 days. If on the 10th day you see blood, it is imperative to tell the pediatrician about it. The same must be done if the wound has not completely healed a month after the end of childbirth.

Consequences of improper treatment of the umbilical wound:

It is not uncommon for babies to have a so-called umbilical hernia during the treatment of an umbilical wound. It is clearly visible especially in those minutes, at a time when the baby is crying and screaming - the tummy tenses up, and a dense mound appears in the navel area. This situation is not terrible and does not require urgent medical intervention - in most cases, umbilical hernias in babies go away on their own.

There are situations when the baby's umbilical wound becomes inflamed. This process is accompanied by reddening of the skin near the navel and a slight swelling. Pus may ooze from the wound itself. Such a negative development of events is called omphalitis. As soon as you see the symptoms listed above - the baby should be urgently shown to the pediatrician. He will prescribe a new scenario for the treatment of an inflamed umbilical wound (much more often with the participation of furacilin solution). In extreme cases, antibiotics are used.

In very rare and severe cases, omphalitis can turn into peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal wall). But, state of the art domestic medicine is such that, with a timely visit to the doctor and adequate treatment of omphalitis, it simply does not happen.

So, if you saw that the skin around the infant's navel turned red and / or swollen, pus began to appear from the wound, and if the navel continues to get wet or light blue, besides, 3 weeks after the baby is born, go immediately to medical workers.

Warning for Overzealous Moms

Inadequate treatment of the umbilical wound in a newborn may consist not only in the fact that you do not finish something (treat less than once a day, do not clean the skin before treatment, delve into the wound with cotton swabs, etc.), but at the same time and in an overly persistent attitude towards this process. Remember - forbidden :

Treat the wound daily (one is enough!);

Use more than two agents when processing (peroxide and brilliant green - a perfect antiseptic company that does not lack employees). Remember that the drugs themselves can enter into unwanted chemical reactions with each other.

Seal the umbilical wound with a band-aid, supposedly after that, so that dirt or bacteria do not get into it. In fact, a prerequisite for speedy healing is air access to the wound, it must dry out. And under the patch is unrealistic in principle.

Glue the patch to the skin at the bottom of the navel, supposedly after that, in order to easily turn the navel out. Seems like it dries out faster. Don't bully the little one! Firstly, such an unusual technique will in no way accelerate the healing of the umbilical wound. Secondly, you have the opportunity to infect during the procedure itself. And finally, tearing off the most affectionate plaster, you still unwittingly hurt the baby and injure the skin.

How to dress and how to lay a newborn whose umbilical wound has not yet healed

Clothing. There are no special warnings in terms of clothing - all children's clothing is made, in most cases, from natural fabrics. Based on this, in addition, the baby packed in five clothes will receive its portion of air, which is necessary for the healing of the umbilical wound. The only thing - make sure that the elastic band from the panties (if you, by and large, put them on the crumbs) does not touch the navel area.

Diapers. Nowadays, many diaper manufacturers offer their customers special models for newborns - some have a low waist, while others have a special recess in the navel area. But besides that, the simplest diaper, in principle, does not threaten an unhealed umbilical wound in any way, provided that you do not fasten it too well.

Sleep on the stomach. Many parents are concerned about whether it is possible to lay the newborn on the belly if the umbilical wound is still wet and has not healed. Maybe. In addition, in such a position, the air space easily gets to the skin, drying the navel. But however, sleeping on the stomach for babies under one year old (and also for newborns) is not desirable in itself - it can create the conditions for the origin of a terrible and so far obscure syndrome unexpected death babies in their sleep.

After a few weeks, the wound should be completely healed. If you are in doubt whether the desired effect has been achieved, consult your pediatrician. He will instantly advise whether it is still worth continuing the daily treatment of the umbilical wound, or whether your baby has already successfully outgrown the status of a newborn.

It's no secret that pregnancy changes a woman very, very much. And first of all - in the physiological aspect. A new life, growing every day in the womb of a future mother, makes its own “edits” in the appearance of a pregnant woman. In appearance, this is primarily displayed on a gradually growing belly. In this regard, many questions in women in position are related to the behavior of the navel during pregnancy.

Many women note that in the second half of pregnancy (by the 25th week, for some, even earlier), the navel may begin to bulge, turning into a “button”. Doctors reassure: during pregnancy, especially in slender women or with a large belly, an expansion of the umbilical ring can indeed be observed. There is nothing wrong with this, this is the normal behavior of the navel during pregnancy. As a rule, after childbirth, the navel acquires its initial shape. It does not become convex for everyone. But the depth can still decrease - closer to 7-8 months.

Some women may complain during pregnancy. This state of affairs may primarily be associated with an increase in the abdomen during the bearing of the baby. So, the skin around the navel is stretched due to the growth of the abdomen, and this can cause certain pain in the navel. Also, the cause of pain in the navel of a brie pregnancy can be weakness of the abdominal muscles. And this, as the gestational age increases, can provoke the appearance of an umbilical hernia. In such a situation, it is recommended to use a cream for stretch marks, wear a special one (starting after the 20th week of pregnancy), avoid it, and also consult a surgeon.

Also, pain in the navel during pregnancy can be provoked by an intestinal infection or acute. But such diseases are accompanied by severe pain in the navel, and the presence of an intestinal infection is also accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sometimes a significant increase in body temperature. In any case, if the pain in the navel during pregnancy is constant, you should seek the advice of a doctor.

A separate topic regarding the navel during pregnancy is the presence of a piercing in it or the desire to get it. Many women, whose navel was already pierced before pregnancy, do not remove the earring until some point when carrying a baby. This question is debatable: someone advises to remove the earring in order to avoid stretch marks, someone wears it for a while, and then takes it out. Women talk about different cases: both about ruptures of the navel from piercing during pregnancy, and about unnecessary ones, which then cannot be dealt with. Someone manages to avoid all these unpleasant situations, and even after giving birth, return the earring to the navel again. All this is due to the individual characteristics of a woman's skin. But doctors, nevertheless, recommend removing the earring from the navel during pregnancy. But piercing the navel for women in the position of a doctor is categorically not recommended. The skin in the navel after the puncture heals for a very long time, sometimes up to four months. If something goes wrong, the wound may begin to rot. Medicines are undesirable for pregnant women. We have already mentioned that a puncture in the navel sometimes heals for several months. During this time, the shape and size of the belly of a pregnant woman will constantly change, respectively, you can earn cardinal changes appearance navel. If the piercing, made during the bearing of the baby, does not have time to overgrow during the first trimester, it will cause pain until the end of pregnancy and for some time after it. And by the 9th month, a woman who pierced her navel during pregnancy runs the risk of experiencing inflammation or rupture.

Specially for- Tatyana Argamakova