Umbilical Hernia in Infants: Our Story

Just about nine months ago my second daughter came into this world full fledge screaming, showing the powerfulness of her lungs. While most babies calm down after being swaddled, my daughter did not and at first they thought it was because of fluid in her lungs. Everything turned out okay and they found nothing wrong with her, but still even as I brought my daughter home, she was very hard to console. My husband and I were distraught from no sleep as she would be up countless nights crying as if in pain and it would continue through the day until she would just conk out in shear exhaustion. When it got to the point of no sleeping, I finally made an appointment with her pediatrician to discuss what could be causing this.

On the day of her appointment I was so happy to just be able to discuss with someone how my daughter was, how I couldn't really enjoy having a new baby because I was so tired and just how I wanted to help her stop. Unfortunately, when I went in I was not given our regular pediatrician as he was not available so I settled for second best, I wanted to have at least someone see her. After examining her and telling the new doctor the case of my daughter, she pushed it off as colic. I burst into tears as I knew this could not the be the case, I explained to her that it was if her stomach was bothering her. She just said for someone to watch my daughter and let me get sleep and as she was getting ready to slip out and my husband was changing Izabella's diaper she noticed my daughters protruding belly button and said to us, "Oh this is an umbilical hernia and it should go away on it's own within a year." I asked her, what happens if it doesn't, she said most likely it would but if not it would be reevaluated then.

Izabella didn't get better for a few more weeks, but one thing we always found that helped her was carrying her around and putting pressure on her stomach. The moments and pressure of holding her allowed her to sleep, but if you put her down, that was another thing. Soon, little Bella go better and I noticed around the time that her excessive crying stopped, so did her umbilical hernia go away. Her belly button as now an "innie" and no more protruding out of her stomach. I made her three month appointment with her pediatrician and wanted to speak with him regarding this as I honestly felt her true pain from crying was somehow interrelated to her umbilical hernia.

During her appointment I brought up about how she had changed at the exact same time her belly button stop protruding and explained to the doctor that I felt it was interrelated. Little did I know, that I was probably right. I also explained to him that I had spoken with one of the doctors that came in after she was born about how she was very sensitive when you touched her around the umbilical cord, but the doctor just told me that all babies were like that (unfortunately, I knew that not to be true because my first was not). He explained that sometimes hernias can cause pain and she should have been evaluated at the time to rule out anything besides just saying she had colic. He wished I had voiced my concerns earlier so that she could have been checked out to see if that was the actual case, which I feel in my heart it was. Since I felt it was interrelated at the time, he went ahead and scheduled a specialist visit for my daughter to make sure that everything had healed properly. I was happy and glad to know that she came back fine and the umbilical hernia had healed on it's own!

So what is an umbilical hernia? It's when the muscles of the abdominal wall fail to close properly after birth which causes the area where the umbilical cord to protrude or stick up when the infant is sitting up, crying, or laughing very hard. This can usually be seen by the belly button actually standing up instead of being an "innie" or an "outie." Generally, it usually doesn't cause the infant any pain and there isn't any need for concern unless you believe that the child is in pain due to the hernia. Most hernia's will heal on their own as our daughters healed all the way by the time she was eight weeks.

If your child has an umbilical hernia, try to be careful around the hernia as much as possible as I noticed with Bella that she seemed very sensitive at first if you touched her belly button. Eventually, as it started to subside, we found walking with her chest out with an arm wrapped around her belly for pressure helped to relieve any pain she had and was better able to sleep. If you do believe your child is in any pain related to the hernia, please do not be afraid to speak out to your pediatrician and have your child evaluated for any other causes. If your child seems to be fine, there is no cause for concern and the hernia should heal within the first five years of the child's life. Contrary to the old wives tale and what my mother in law suggested, there isn't any need to put a coin around the belly button to keep it from protruding as it won't cause it to heal any faster than if you hadn't done so. This was something they did in the past as it was thought to push the hernia back in place making it heal faster.

Try not to let the hernia bother you, it's not your fault and there isn't anything that you did that caused it. Comfort your baby as much as possible and seek help if you feel your baby is in pain. Hang in there, they will get better.