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My son is 3 weeks old. He has already had his first hospital stay. :( He went in at 2 weeks and 4 days and we were there for 3 days. Here's what happened........when we were in the hospital after he was born, I noticed that his umbilical cord area was kind of red when he was only 1 1/2 days old. The nurse told me not to worry and said his clothes were just irritating it. I let it go, but when we went home, it was still red. Then a couple of days later it began to smell pretty foul. The next day after it began to smell, the outreach nurse was supposed to be coming out to our house. I decided to wait and show it to her, since it would only be the next day, rather than calling the doctor. The outreach nurse came and told me that it was okay. She said that the smell that was coming off of it was because it was rotting and close to falling off. I believed her. Then came his 2 week doctor's visit. His doctor freaked out upon seeing and smelling it and said that it was obviously infected. She was disappointed that I hadn't addressed the issue with her prior to the visit. I explained that I had addressed the redness issue at the hospital and the smell with the outreach nurse, she told me to never take medical advice from a nurse. Even when they seem like they know what they're talking about, I should still ask a doctor. I felt pretty stupid. So, she took a culture swab of his belly button and told me that she would get back to me on it. She called a couple of days later and told me that he had to go to the hospital immediately and that he had a severe staph infection. She said that it could or could have spread to his bloodstream and could be deadly!! I was so scared and kept blaming myself since I had seen it right after he was born. Needless to say, we stayed in the hospital for 3 days and he was on IV meds. It didn't spread to his bloodstream and we are now home and he's on an oral antibiotic. I'm glad I have medical insurance, the oral antibiotic is $4,000!!!!!! and it's only for 10 days!! There are 2 points to my story. #1 Always ask a doctor for medical advice, sometimes nurses know what they're talking about, but always ask a doctor. #2 Any redness and any smell are not normal for the umbilical cord. It should be colorless (the skin around it) and odorless all the way up to the point when it falls off.