Where does the expression “the navel will untie” come from?
The expression “the navel will untie” literally means the occurrence of a defect in the abdomen, leading to severe pain.
It is impossible to accurately determine who and when first began to use the concept “the navel will untie.” People apply this concept to situations like this:
- the person coughs heavily;
- someone lifts unbearable weights;
- a person performs actions that involve a large load on the abdominal muscles, including physical strain.
In these cases, you can hear: “your belly button will untie” or “you will tear your stomach.” Usually these phrases mean the same thing - the formation of a defect in the abdomen, which will lead to intense pain, like a back injury.
The common expression indicating an untied navel has a real medical term behind it - umbilical hernia. This is a serious disease that is most often found in newborns, pregnant women and the elderly.
Can a belly button... come undone?
The head of the city center for herniology and bariatric surgery, candidate of medical sciences Nikolai Dorokh answers the reader’s question
The first measure to prevent umbilical hernia in adults is regular abdominal training and maintaining a normal weight. Women during pregnancy, as well as men engaged in heavy physical labor, must wear a bandage, especially since it is possible to detect signs of pregnancy in the early stages using https://www.teddyclub.ua quite quickly
?Quite often you can hear: “Don’t strain yourself, otherwise your belly button will come undone.” Does this really happen?
Pavel Dmitrievich KOLESNIKOV, Berezovsky district
— It’s too simplistic to say this about an umbilical hernia, but only if we are talking about children. At birth, a minimal defect of the umbilical ring is detected in almost every newborn. When a baby screams or cries, a hernial protrusion appears, which usually alarms parents.
The navel is a very delicate and weak place in the body of any person. And this is due to the fact that the umbilical cord passes through the hole in the abdominal wall, connecting the child and the mother in utero. Through the umbilical cord, the baby receives all the necessary nutrients for its development. During childbirth, when it is cut, the physical connection between the child and the mother is essentially interrupted. After this, the remaining section of the umbilical cord is treated and tied, and over time the umbilical cord falls off.
I would like to note that this place on the human body remains the most vulnerable for life. If in children an umbilical hernia is mostly treated conservatively with the help of massage and special exercises, then an umbilical hernia in adults most often requires surgical intervention.
This pathology quite often appears in adults after 50 years. Moreover, both women and men who are engaged in hard physical labor or love to eat well and eat a lot. But this same problem quite often occurs before or after childbirth and in young women. All such patients can only be helped by surgery. The most modern techniques involve the use of various prostheses, as well as the use of one’s own stem cells.
Most often, a small hernia does not cause any inconvenience to a person, and its symptoms appear only as it increases. The main ones include frequently occurring constipation, pain in the abdomen and back, belching, rumbling in the stomach and nausea, heaviness and discomfort in the navel area.
In the 4th Clinical Hospital of Minsk alone, more than 200 people were operated on last year, and in general, at least a thousand such patients are admitted to the capital’s clinics every year. These are those who risked coming to the doctors or were brought here by ambulance. For example, we recently received a 60-year-old patient with an umbilical hernia, whose intestines began to be squeezed out through the hole in the navel. This man was helped by surgery. But there were many cases when an umbilical hernia, even if it protruded strongly above the surface of the abdomen, did not always force the patient to seek help. Especially when she didn’t bother and nothing hurt.
How do we help such patients? Most adults with an umbilical hernia undergo surgery. Today, the surgical method of treating hernia is the most common in the world. It consists in the fact that doctors sew up the holes through which the hernia comes out, and in case of large hernias or relapses of the disease, they apply a special synthetic prosthetic mesh. These meshes are capable of not only holding weak points through which internal organs protrude, but also creating powerful scars that cover weak points of the abdomen.
This operation should be done as planned. If this pathology is not treated, the complications can be very serious. For example, infringement of internal organs may occur, which will cause circulatory problems and necrosis (death) of tissue. In this case, the patient will suffer severe pain and will have to remove part of the intestine. This is a rather complicated operation, after which the patient is in a very serious condition. There are also cases when such patients even die.
Therefore, if an umbilical hernia appears, you need to consult a doctor as soon as possible and carry out a planned operation, without waiting for the formation of adhesions and strangulation of the hernia.
Can a belly button actually come undone?
The navel is a vulnerable area of the human body, representing an opening connected to the abdominal wall. The navel appears after the umbilical cord dies and heals, which connects mother and child, being responsible for the latter’s nutrition.
Doctors point to the fact that the umbilical region remains the most vulnerable throughout life. Even the organ that is most susceptible to rupture and injury, the spleen, is very close to the navel.
The navel cannot simply “untie”, but weakness of the muscles in this area leads to the formation of a hernia. Externally, the protrusion may resemble the same state of an untied navel.
The pathology cannot be perceived as harmless, since when organs penetrate the hernial sac, the risk of strangulation increases significantly. And this can become a reason for complications in the future: peritonitis, necrosis of the intestine and other tissues.
Causes of navel divergence in a newborn
In the maternity hospital, a medical clothespin is applied to the newborn baby, which then allows the correct navel to form. After about 7-10 days, the umbilical cord falls off along with the clothespin.
However, earlier, instead of a medical accessory, they used silk thread and tied the navel. This may have been the reason why the expression “the navel will come undone” then appeared.
Possible problems with a child’s navel are a much more realistic situation, similar to the symptoms of an “untied” navel. Since in the first weeks of a baby’s life this area is exposed to pathogenic flora, various diseases may develop:
- umbilical hernia - occurs due to muscle weakness, constipation, hysterical crying;
- omphalitis is an infectious and inflammatory lesion that develops due to improper wound care or very poor immunity;
- fistulas are dangerous disorders in which a hole in the navel is associated with improper healing of the intestines or ureter.
In some maternity hospitals, especially in small urban settlements or villages, navel ligation is still practiced. Cases where decoupling occurs are incredibly rare and occur once every 5-10 years.
Then the child begins to bleed heavily, which can only be stopped under medical conditions. Lack of help can lead to the death of the newborn. But in the practice of Russian doctors these are isolated cases.
A teenager's navel cannot be untied, just like an adult's. The only thing that threatens a child over the age of 10 years is a hernia due to excessive physical exertion.
Can a baby's navel rupture?
This is a more realistic situation. In a newborn, this disease can manifest itself both in the form of a hernia and in the literal sense. But recently this is not so relevant, because instead of tying the umbilical cord, special clothespins are now used, which significantly reduce the risk of such a problem.
If the maternity hospital still uses a simple technology for tying the umbilical cord, it can break apart, which causes bleeding and large blood loss, which can threaten the life and health of the child. Such situations are very rare and are considered extraordinary accidents.
Now you know whether a newborn baby’s belly button can become untied. But don’t forget about umbilical hernia, which is much more common and requires an immediate response from parents.
Can the belly button come undone during pregnancy?
Changing the shape of the navel during pregnancy
During pregnancy, a woman’s body faces enormous stress. The rectus and oblique abdominal muscles are greatly stretched and lose tone. If there is weakness or congenital dysplasia, an umbilical hernia may appear.
But do not confuse a slight stretching and protruding of the navel with a disease. To clarify the diagnosis, be sure to undergo examination by a gynecologist and surgeon. In most cases, surgery is not required. There are also situations when a hernia forms after childbirth as a result of an intense decrease in the volume of the abdomen. Then doctors prescribe elective surgery, but not earlier than 6 months after birth.
Symptoms of an umbilical hernia
The structure and external manifestation of umbilical hernias
If the navel of an adult is untied, that is, a hernia has formed, vivid symptoms arise. Conventionally, a hernia can be divided into simple and strangulated. In the first case, only one striking sign appears - a noticeable tumor formation in the umbilical zone.
The hernia will be mobile, disappearing when the person takes a supine position. The smaller it is, the more active it appears against the background of coughing, straining and physical activity. Also, after sports, discomfort and even pain appear in the navel area.
If the hernia increases in size, there is a risk of complications. With large protrusions, organs can get inside the sac. When pinched, the following signs appear:
- acute pain in the affected area;
- the skin around the bulge becomes red, swollen, or bluish;
- the hernia does not reduce in a supine position, becomes less mobile and more rigid;
Strangulated hernia - the patient may experience vomiting, severe nausea, bloating and signs of intestinal obstruction;
- the temperature rises, the patient experiences acute weakness, apathy, and finds it difficult to move.
The symptoms of strangulation in children are similar, as is the mechanism of hernia development. However, the baby cannot verbally describe what is happening to him.
Parents should be alert to the following signs: redness in the area where the navel protrudes, the baby’s crying, irritability, and active movement of the legs. Newborns spit up frequently and often refuse to eat.
Umbilical hernia is easily diagnosed in both adults and children.
Why do children pick at the umbilical cavity?
An unpleasant habit can be caused not only by irritation in the umbilical area, but also by emotional problems and stressful conditions. Therefore, before taking any measures, it is necessary to find out why the baby is touching the umbilical fossa.
Physiological reasons
The child may pick at the navel if he feels discomfort in this area.
The child begins to experience anxiety - he has an uncomfortable sensation in the umbilical area. For this reason, the baby often touches the navel. If the cause is physiological in nature, it will probably manifest itself externally, so parents should conduct a careful examination of the body. There may be redness or a rash that causes itching around the navel. There may also be scratches in this area, which can cause the child to experience pain and discomfort. As the wounds heal, they itch and the baby picks off the scab, which leads to even greater irritation and inflammation.
If a child has severely picked at the navel, spots, redness, or even worse, pus or blood appear on the abdomen, immediate consultation with a doctor is required.
Umbilical hernia in a newborn
One of the most common diseases in babies is an umbilical hernia. Its appearance is possible due to non-standard natural data: a large umbilical ring or weak abdominal muscles. It is not difficult to see it; the hernia seems to protrude above the skin.
The baby cannot understand that the appearance of a hernia is abnormal for his navel, and he tries to play with it, pressing the protrusion so that it disappears under the skin and peeks back out. During this process, the baby does not experience any pain, so this game is interesting for him.
Parents should understand that in case of hernial protrusion, it is necessary to urgently seek help from a doctor to prevent complications in the future. If you identify any pimple or bump on your tummy, consult a surgeon. He will determine what it is and prescribe therapeutic or surgical treatment.
Psychological reasons
Picking the navel may be a consequence of lack of attention.
If there are no external manifestations, but the child still tries to pick the navel, the prerequisites for such behavior are psychological. This is usually due to an unhealthy environment. Conflicts and quarrels between relatives, lack of attention, and aggressive behavior of older brothers or sisters can provoke such an obsessive desire in the baby. The habit may signal that the child is being bullied by other children or adults. He is very small and weak to give change or respond with dignity. This makes the baby worry and causes fear. Because of these factors, the baby begins to pick at the navel.
The most dangerous reason for the habit of picking at the umbilical cavity is self-injury. The child deliberately does this to hurt himself. It is not limited to ordinary finger twisting in the navel. He can pinch his skin, scratch his umbilical area, and pick until he bleeds. If you see that your baby is constantly fiddling with his belly button for no reason, you need to take him to a child psychologist.
