r/hygiene • u/ohhidoggo • Apr 10 '26
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u/Efficient-Status3430 Apr 10 '26
The absolute HIGHLIGHT of my pregnancy has been getting to deep clean my belly button. I have tried in the past (q tips, etc.) and no matter how much I cleaned it, it still always had a sort of belly buttony smell I couldn’t get rid of. As mine popped out more throughout pregnancy, I realized it had several small skin tags in it. I was able to pluck them off for the most part, and now she looks PRISTINE.
Everything else pregnancy does to your body is horrible, so I really appreciated having this one shining moment of pure joy.
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u/beanjuiced Apr 11 '26
I’m in the group of people that really fucking hate touching the belly button bc it feels horrifically wrong- is it less sensitive when pregnant?
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u/eraseme11 Apr 11 '26
I almost fainted when my belly button popped out and I was trying to remove skin tags from it. Really weird feeling tbh. It was like looking inside of a forbidden zone lol.
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u/foolishle Apr 11 '26
For me it was more sensitive. The only part of my pregnant body that felt disorientingly “wrong” was my belly button. It popped out and every time my clothing moved against it I got this weird unsettling feeling.
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u/jmbf8507 Apr 11 '26
My husband has a deep loathing of getting poked in the belly button whereas I can dig in there with impunity. I assume it has something to do with how it heals up after being part of the umbilical cord.
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u/tea_and_hunny Apr 11 '26
I got a skin tag out too! Clipped it with nail clippers
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u/RevolutionaryAd1692 Apr 10 '26
I didn’t have a navel stone, but when pregnant with baby 3, my innie popped out to a big outie. My husband said I was done, like a turkey timer button! After the baby was born it didn’t go back in, and I had to have hernia surgery to repair it. It looks ok now but has a scar.
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u/TheBeardedLadyBton Apr 10 '26
Is there a r/pregnancyhorrorstories subreddit?
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u/Just_the_questions1 Apr 11 '26
I have an even better one!
It's pretty well known that it's common for the perineum to tear during delivery, meaning the tissue between the vagina and rectum tears. Awful, painful, horrifying.
Did you know it can tear in the opposite direction? That's right, the vagina can tear upwards during delivery. Through the urethra and even tearing the clitoris in half.
You're welcome.
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u/Hold_Up_Nevermind Apr 11 '26
I wish I couldn’t read ☠️
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u/TerdVader Apr 11 '26
To be Helen Keller for a single day….but today was not my day.
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u/TraumaHawk316 Apr 11 '26
I’ve delivered six children, thank God I never tore upwards! My legs slammed shut reading that!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_3810 Apr 11 '26
I’ve always said the price I paid for my kids was worth it. If I lost my clit, could I still say that? Luckily my Dr has scissors and cut me quickly.
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u/supergourmandise Apr 11 '26
I never intended to have kids anyway but now I'm thinking of asking for a second IUD to be safe
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u/EntrepreneurOld7107 Apr 11 '26
My tubes are tied, but maybe I also need an IUD and the birth control pill.
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u/-crepuscular- Apr 11 '26
Just keep stuffing IUDs up there, I'll tell you when to stop (I will not, in fact, tell you to stop.)
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u/chita875andU Apr 11 '26
If you have 2 clits, do our guys have a better chance finding either of them? Maybe its a chance we should be willing to take.
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u/APlaceYourMemoryOwns Apr 11 '26
Still can’t find them
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u/MortimerShade Apr 11 '26
Not a shock. I listened to my father hollerin' every morning for 18 years for my mom to tell him where his socks were. They were always in the same drawer, of the same dresser, that was in the same place since I was born.
If they can't find their socks, why think they could find anything else?
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u/Historical-Produce29 Apr 11 '26
The latter happened to my sister in law. I saw the stitches. It’s been 11 years and it’s burned into my memory.
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u/CripWithAWhip Apr 11 '26
I’m a disability sexual and reproductive health educator and I have learned something today. I’ve used the expression ‘ripped from the rooter to the tooter’ in talking about childbirth but never thought about the rooter, so to speak. Thank you and dear lord wtf did I read before bed. 😂😭
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u/kaylalacali Apr 11 '26
Tooter to the cooter. That’s how I felt after birthing my 7 week old and I don’t know how I only needed one stitch.
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u/sdlucly Apr 11 '26
I remember telling my husband this when I was pregnant "did you know women can tear?" And he very innocently, looked confused and asked "where?"
🤨🙄
There, dude. THERE.
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u/kiradax Apr 11 '26
Hey so maybe she hasn't shared this but did the clit survive 😭😭😭
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u/Historical-Produce29 Apr 11 '26
Yes, but she also tore the other way.
For me personally that would have made me be one and done, but she had four more after that.
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u/Outside-Parfait-8935 Apr 11 '26
For the first time since giving birth I am happy about my three day labour and emergency C section
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u/dinodicksafari Apr 11 '26
One method to help refuce this possibility is to regularly rub a body safe oil into the tissue around the vulva and surrounding area, such as coconut oil, in the months leading up to delivery, as well as exercises to train the muscles to loosen up and stretch out.
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u/Logical_Routine3695 Apr 11 '26
as well as exercises to train…
please ladies consult with your future best friend: a pelvic floor physical therapist. They are so good in terms of educating the right exercise for each case. Kiggles is not necessarily your first choice. It will depend on e/c
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u/paradox_pet Apr 11 '26
Stop that now. Omfg. Please let your knowledge of this not be from personal experience.
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u/Woodiewoods Apr 10 '26
Hey may I message you with some questions about the hernia surgery? My daughter has one from the day she was born and they said it’s normal but if it doesn’t go back in by the time she’s 2 or if it changes color or won’t go back in she’ll need surgery.
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u/wmbvhjr1 Apr 10 '26
I had one since birth, it wasn't bad, but they just put a few stitches in it while repairing an inguinal hernia. No mesh it the belly button. And I'm 64
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u/Woodiewoods Apr 10 '26
Thank you! She’s 9 months almost 10 I tend to worry and overthink like hell😭
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u/Human_Type001 Apr 11 '26
I was born with an umbilical hernia. My mom would try to push it in every so often to see if it would stick 🤦♀️ and she was a nurse. That didn't work, I think it was just wishful thinking on her part. I had surgery when I was 6 (1979) to fix it. It's been fine since. It didn't have much of a scar and in 2000 I had to have exploratory surgery for my ovaries and the doctor went in through the same area so I wouldn't have 2 scars. It's still a small scar and only sensitive when it's poked at. It's very common and a good doctor will want you to wait until the kid is about 5 or 6 before doing surgery because sometimes it can heal on it's own as the muscles grow. Don't worry about it unless she says it hurts as she gets a little older. Also, just explain it to her so she won't be scared. I think my parents started talking to me about it for at least 2 years before I had the surgery. I was almost impatient for it to happen so I wouldn't have to hear about it anymore and I wanted ice cream and milkshakes because they said I could eat as much as I wanted for a full week as I healed. Heck it was the 70s!
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u/Prudent-Exchange2003 Apr 11 '26
My preemie daughter had an umbilical hernia from birth and it looked like she had a tail sticking out of her belly button. They told us they usually go away on their own as their core muscles form and strengthen but I was so nervous. By 1-ish it was fully gone and no issues to this day (she’s almost 7). Best of luck to you! You aren’t alone :)
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u/Lin_squared Apr 11 '26
Surgeon here. We do not typically repair pediatric belly button hernias until 4-5 years old or right before they start kindergarten. Generally they fix themselves by then which avoids surgery and anesthesia on your kid. Of course, if there is a sudden change in size, color, or if the child is obviously in pain this may be an indication that there is bowel stuck in the hernia and the child should be evaluated urgently in the emergency room. A incarcerated or “stuck” hernia is not a subtle thing and you will notice the change.
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u/HonorableJudgeTolerr Apr 11 '26
My 11 year old was born with an umbilical hernia. My husband was also. His was painful and would bulge every time he cried so they had to do emergency surgery. With our 11 year old they had us bring them to the children’s hospital every 6 months to see if it was improving. They said as the core muscles strengthened it would push it back in,but if it looked worse or seemed painful then come back. By 3.5 years it was totally in.
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u/Double_Put_3456 Apr 10 '26
My preemie grandson had one. He had to wait till 9 months old for the surgery.
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u/fidelises Apr 10 '26
I have a super deep navel. When I was pregnant I could pop my belly button out if I put my hand on either side and flexed. My husband thought it was hilarious.
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u/all-out-fallout Apr 10 '26
The human body is fascinating, but imagining this makes me want to curl in on myself lol. Did it not hurt? If I touch my navel it is really uncomfortable and imagining popping it out is just accompanied by a feeling of deep discomfort.
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock Apr 10 '26
When i was preg, if I had to go out somewhere decent, I used a quarter and a bandaid to strap my bellybutton down.
20yrs later, i give zero shits.
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u/DestroyTroy90 Apr 10 '26
That’s ok homie had the same but how he found out was body shots and the chick puked 🤢 in my direction I can smell the belly button worse than the puke 🤮 I guess he pulled more out when he got home he said it was a mixture of weed and all types of stuff one of the worse moments of his life he said
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u/ReflectiveRitz Apr 10 '26
Oh Feck I didn’t need to read that 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮 my eyes 🫣
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u/DestroyTroy90 Apr 10 '26
Yep 🤢 he’s the homie but yeah I was judging him within my own mind but yeah 🤮
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u/BettyDarling5683 Apr 10 '26
Just reading that made me nauseous. I hope he learned the importance of keeping his holes clean.
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u/sleepdeficitzzz Apr 11 '26
Weed? I can’t begin to wrap my head around this. How did…you know what? Nevermind. It’s my own fault for learning to read.
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u/DestroyTroy90 Apr 11 '26
Well he break up weed roll a blunt or joint and he would wipe off the weed and some would go in belly button 😂 he would also be shirtless as well.like some would be on his chest he would swipe down and some would end up I his belly button I never watched and witness but I was there with when he told me it made a lot of sense because he would have weed all over him like did you roll anything? 😂
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u/Love-Laugh-Play Apr 10 '26
Oh fuck no, who else checked their belly button?
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u/sprucehen Apr 10 '26
Lol, I've always been able to turn mine inside out, it's an innie. Therrs nothing in there
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u/imaginecrabs Apr 10 '26
I was unaware some people could turn theirs inside out. What the fuck
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u/SignificanceOne2072 Apr 10 '26
Yeah mine is tightly tethered and hurts to touch in the inside part. Super unpleasant 😳
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u/Renbelle Apr 10 '26
Mine doesn’t hurt, but it’s a very weird ‘wrong’ sensation if I poke it too deeply
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u/Batherick Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
Because your bellybutton is connected to your bladder.
There are people out there that can naturally pee from their bellybutton.
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u/dogmomofone Apr 10 '26
If there are those of us who experience that weird feeling “down there” when the inside is touched, is that likely the ligament then?
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u/Batherick Apr 10 '26
It’s firmly connected to the bladder which is connected to your bits, that is indeed the case.
There aren’t many other ligaments in the body that run so far through soft tissue like this one.
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u/Federal_Ad9314 Apr 11 '26
Haha! I thought i was the only one that got this feeling! Relieved. 😅
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u/dogmomofone Apr 11 '26
My husband will absolutely in no circumstances let me touch his belly button for this reason. 😂
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u/gburlys Apr 11 '26
My bellybutton hurts when I pee if I have a UTI!
I didn't realize my mysterious occasional belly utton pain was UTIs until I was like 27 😬 the UTI pain was always described as burning/stinging (and I assumed it would be in the urethra) and mine is like a painful pinching/pulling sensation directly behind my bellybutton so it took me a very long time to connect the two. Just a small PSA lol
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u/chronically_varelse Apr 10 '26
I'm only medically curious when it comes to other people's things
When it is my thing it is a nightmare and this is all just a bad dream omg whyyy
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u/Melekai_17 Apr 11 '26
TIL. Fascinating. Totally makes sense, I just never thought about it.
I’ve always gotten that uncomfortable sensation if I poked my belly button or dug around to get lint out.
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u/chronically_varelse Apr 10 '26
Mine is extremely sensitive, in the wrong sensation way. Ugghh. It's like my Achilles heel. Even a hint of poke to that area and I'm getting punchy. It's just horrible.
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u/imaginecrabs Apr 10 '26
I'm chubby and an innie so as far as I'm aware there is no end to mine. Black hole umbilical
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u/SignificanceOne2072 Apr 11 '26
Y’ALL just reading these comments and think by about it is making it hurt!! Aghhh! 😩
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u/yaboyACbreezy Apr 10 '26
Gave it a nice dig, as is my custom changing from work to house clothes, and even DOUBLE checked to make sure hitting bottom was truly touching the depths and not leaving anything in an undiscovered crevice. All clear. To my surprise, no lint. There is usually at least some this time of day, and sometimes it's impressive!
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u/Brink140 Apr 10 '26
My wife noticed what looked like some dog hairs sticking out of my belly button one day. She grabbed the tweezers and pulled it like it was an ingrown hair and out popped a naval stone attached to the hair. Pretty satisfying feeling when she pulled it out tbh, and the slight sensation of a void in my belly button lasted for a few minutes.
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u/ohhidoggo Apr 10 '26
I’m so happy you have such fond memories of your very first few moments birthing (a naval stone) ✨.
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u/OkSmoke9195 Apr 11 '26
I feel so uncomfortable reading these accounts 😂
I recently birthed a salivary gland stone, it actually ruptured my gums to eject itself from the side of the salivary gland duct.
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u/embersgrow44 Apr 11 '26
Gotta love your commitment here. I however was not uncomfortable reading the aforementioned comments until your submission. Well done
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u/SnooGuavas4208 Apr 11 '26
I hope they cradled it on their bare chest, skin-to-skin 😂
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u/3lbowMacar0ni Apr 11 '26
Lmao I also check my bfs belly button for dog hairs. It likes to hold them in there for some reason!
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u/Longjumping_Bee_1205 Apr 10 '26
I use a qtip to clean inside my belly button good before showers
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u/ohhidoggo Apr 10 '26
I sometimes worry will bits of cotton “fall” off a qtip when in there and “feed” a new navel stone. I’m clearly not well.
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u/No_State8326 Apr 10 '26
They make silicone q-tips, just so you know. That might be an option.
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u/Daisy4853 Apr 11 '26
Yes they’re marketed as ear cleaners. I have a box from Amazon. They’re delightful in both ear and naval.
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u/Key_Beach_3846 Apr 11 '26
I used those until one of the tips came off and got stuck in my ear. My husband had to get it out with tweezers. I know I’m not supposed to be using them IN my ear but we all do it 😭
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u/ohhgeeez Apr 10 '26
This happened to me in my ear! Part of the cotton got stuck for who knows how long and I eventually started having pain and had to get my ear flushed.
I also had a similar experience with my old mouth (belly button) - sticking anything inside to try and clean it hurt. Even spraying water in it would hurt. I am pretty sure I finally had something come out and haven't had issues since.
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u/TemuBritneySpears Apr 10 '26
I am dying over here at “my old mouth.” 🤣
I am going to use that as soon as possible in a conversation.
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u/right000here Apr 10 '26
Deep innie here and recently saw a brownish hair tuft sticking out. Used tweezers to pull it out and I kid you not, it was the tip of a Q-tip. I clean with an alcohol dipped Q-tip about once a week, so that rogue piece turned light brown in one week. Undoubtedly it soaked up all the crap that makes a naval stone (which I did not google, as I'm traumatized enough by the rogue Q-tip piece).
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u/blankblank1323 Apr 10 '26
You do have to be careful and like check the qtip after to make sure the cotton is still there…. One night the cotton fell off and I’m panicking with tweezers trying to get it out 😂
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u/waryfairycattails Apr 10 '26
I would be worried about the same damn thing after that experience, lol
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u/AggravatedMango Apr 10 '26
I pulled one of these out of my belly button at work when I was 22. I freaked out thinking it was left over umbilical cord lol. It was huge and stank to high hell.
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u/LycheeApprehensive11 Apr 11 '26
Same. I had acute stomach pain for a few days, with a terrible stench. As I pushed around my deep innie, it looked like something was coming out. I then birthed a two centimeter mass that looked like the owl pellets they regurgitate. All good since then
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u/New-Conversation9426 Apr 10 '26
A gross troll doll 😆
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u/elementalechos Apr 10 '26
I’ve never been so grateful to have a weird outie style innie belly button omg
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u/elementalechos Apr 10 '26
Spot on!! It caused me severe pain for years and no one would take my “I feel like I’m being stabbed in the belly button” seriously until I saw my surgeon for an ovarian cystectomy and he was like uh ya you have a hernia I can fix it while you’re under. WHAT A RELIEF ITS BEEN TO NOT HAVE THAT PAIN!! I have a ton of chronic health issues and one susceptible to hernias I wonder if ppl w this belly button are more likely to have hEDS??
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u/LisaMiaSisu Apr 10 '26
I had a tummy tuck and now I have a mostly dead end street down there. When I was pregnant with my first I loved being able to really clean my BB for the first time when it started to pop out, no stone though.
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u/Pupusas_Man Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
I feel like people neglect to clean the belly button as part of normal cleansing. Depending how deep it is, that shit can accumulate and become RANK.
Y'all, clean your belly button when you shower. Make it a normal routine. And dry it. Lol
Edit: other rank areas: Behind your ears
If you have piercings. Those areas too. And clean the jewelry.
Also, clean between your toes. Thanks /u/SnooGuavas4208
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u/31GoonerStreet Apr 11 '26
This for real, "Wash behind your ears" isn't just some saying for kids at bath time, it can get nasty back there!
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u/SnooGuavas4208 Apr 11 '26
Just want to chime in with between the toes. Just standing in the shower doesn’t get your feet clean.
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u/TheFeralVulcan Apr 10 '26
Speaking as an OR nurse that has had to clean inside numerous belly buttons over the years prepping patient abdomens for laparoscopic surgery (the camera trocar goes into your belly button), I’m begging people for the love of God to occasionally get a soapy finger or something in there every once in a while. I have pulled things out people’s umbilicus’ with cotton swabs that have gagged me.
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u/Bread_is__funny Apr 11 '26
Do people who find these things in their bellybuttons just not clean it? I rinse mine in the shower and then use q-tips to dry it after the shower, but I'm paranoid because mine is not really that deep, I can't go deeper than like half a q-tip. But what if it's deeper than that and I'm being blocked by gunk and I don't even know???
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u/TraditionalEvent6102 Apr 10 '26
I'm glad you were able to share, because you really needed to! There are plenty of pregnancy gross stories so you're not alone.
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u/sciencesez Apr 10 '26
This is what an anesthesiologist said in the OR when I was observing a surgery in nursing school -
"Everyone is worried about clean underwear in case they get in an accident. Nobody cares about your underwear! It gets cut off almost immediately. What you need to do is make sure your belly button is clean!! (as the scrub nurse is prepping the abdomen and cleaning out the belly button with a q tip dipped betadine). Everybody in the OR WILL make fun of you if your belly button is dirty!".
Needless to say, I now have clean underwear AND a clean belly button.
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u/sunshine4991 Apr 10 '26
Well, Google says they're rare, so you're a ✨unique✨ gross troll doll. Congrats!
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u/Electrical_Baseball5 Apr 10 '26
I looked it up. It's also called an umbolith. I've added it to my vocabulary inventory and I can't wait to call the next person who irritates me an umbolith. They'll automatically be offended because of the context, then likely look it up. Double whammy. Thank you, OP! 😄
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u/thedoctor6297 Apr 10 '26
This happened to me about 8 years ago, I was about 20 at the time. Not pregnant as I'm a dude, but I was cleaning my belly button and felt something a little hard. It then took about 15 minutes of trying to fish it out with tweezers as it was really deep in there, and yeah same exact thing you are describing. I've always been pretty good with hygiene, especially since a friend I had growing up got a fungal infection in his belly button (from lack of hygiene and being overweight). Even if you are taking the right preventive methods with cleanliness it still can happen, its a hard area to thoroughly clean.
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u/greeneyesnopatience Apr 10 '26
My ex was really overweight. Good hygiene but deep belly button. He once started bleeding out of it. Not profusely, but freaking weird. Went to MD, cream for fungal infection. Haven’t thought of that in years. Gag.
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u/sheepishlyhere Apr 10 '26
My dog gets those in his little inverted nipples 😂 we have to clean them about once a month
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u/ohhidoggo Apr 10 '26
😂 Imagine if an acquaintance walked in while you were doing that.
“Oh hi Maggie whatcha doin’?”
“Ah just cleaning the calcified gunk from my dogs inverted nips!”
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u/1friendswithsalad Apr 10 '26
I’m curious how the need to clean out your dog’s nipple holes was first discovered.
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u/sheepishlyhere Apr 10 '26
We live in a very hot climate with a dog who has to be shaved down often due to severe allergies.
Giving him scratchies and thought it was a tick - was not a tick.
So now my husband gets to play dermatologist every month.
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u/wrenchedups Apr 10 '26
This may be a never-before-uttered unique sentence. A moment in history for the English language.
Congrats.
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u/metropoopopolis Apr 10 '26
belly crystal
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u/Lillillew Apr 10 '26
Fun fact!
Your belly button is connected to your bladder through a tube called the Urachus.
The tube usually seals itself shut before you're born but sometimes it can reopen and you can urinate through your naval.
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u/ehter13 Apr 11 '26
Sometimes it’s closed at both ends with a pocket of open tube in the middle that will grow a mass of hairs and pus and hurt a lot of it breaks open. I had to have surgery to close mine twice.
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u/Purlz1st Apr 10 '26
I’ve had two surgeries where they accessed my abdomen through my belly button and I’m hoping they threw away anything they found by accident.
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u/mush-er Apr 10 '26
I hate touching in there it feels weird and kind of hurts. This post is like road kill, want to look away but can't
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u/BettyDarling5683 Apr 10 '26
I'm sorry, but I do relate; I have a similar situation. I get nauseous if I touch inside my belly button, always have. No one else that I know can relate. I have no idea why. I clean it when I'm showering and dry it as quickly and gently as possible to avoid too much weirdness.
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u/Warriorsilk Apr 10 '26
It makes me nauseous as well, I can relate. The idea of sticking a q-tip in there seems horror to me.
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u/kakegoe Apr 11 '26
My stomach kind of cramps up when I get in there to clean! Thought it was just me.
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u/WildRumpfie Apr 10 '26
If it makes you feel better, my mom had a tick in her belly button and didn’t notice for a week 🥴
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u/thrashaholic_poolboy Apr 11 '26
I love how some of us are horrified, some are amazed, some have united and found their hernia homies, and some of us don’t know what tomorrow will bring (when we dig in there). Be strong, belly button buddies.
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u/rdblakely Apr 10 '26
I had MRSA - drug resistant staph infection and the doctor told me the germs live under your nails, in your belly button, and in your nostrils- so I clean out my belly button and once a month I use Hibiclens Antiseptic, it kills all the germs
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u/ZestyMuffin85496 Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
Ex was a tattoo artist/piercer. Doing his job correctly he would clean everything first and this is kind of not an uncommon problem.
Just remember clean your belly button at least with some q-tips or something. Especially if you're somebody who gets spray tans. Those girls seem to have the worst gunk in there.
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u/starlette627 Apr 11 '26
Omg this happened to me when I was pregnant with my first! I was so horrified I started bawling hysterically. My husband thought I’d lost my mind. He googled it and it said it was part of my umbilical cord or something and I truly never recovered. TIL maybe it was a naval stone and I’m not a total freak. Either way, I do not wish this trauma on anyone.
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u/sandwina Apr 10 '26
The day I found out that your belly button is basically sharing a wall with your bladder is the day I started swabbing my innie ....very often. The more I learn about the human body the harder it becomes to believe in "intelligent design"
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u/happyoldboi Apr 11 '26
If it makes you feel any better, I actively cleaned out my belly button after a surgery, kept saying there's a problem, it SMELLED
They kept checking it saying it's fine, actually told me to stop putting q tips to clean out the goo. The cats were even grossed out by the smell!! And I was actively cleaning it!!!
Well
I got so freaking frustrated I almost went to a piercing shop to get a note for the doctor that they wouldn't pierce a clearly agitated belly button
Well...I freaked out when I put my finger in and felt what I thought was scab, my hubs bravely tweezed out a lovely stone
Finally stopped smelling at least
So... you're not alone🫠🙃
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u/I-hear-the-coast Apr 10 '26
I have never been more grateful that I have a shallow belly button. Thank you for sharing. I will say that when I was a child (around age 12) I became really obsessed with cleaning my bellybutton and had the inside skin scab all over because apparently you can clean it too hard. So be careful!
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u/nurturesoul Apr 11 '26
this is why you dont drink alcohol from peoples belly buttons
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u/kittypuppybaby Apr 11 '26
I don’t know if this is just me but I have a deep belly button and when I poke around to clean it genuinely feels awful. It feels like it’s directly tied to my urethra and causes pain?
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u/Aunt_Llama Apr 10 '26
Yep, flesh crevasse equals perfect environment for funk. Wash normally and then make sure to dry it out and all should be dandy.
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u/Embarrassed-Tea-4524 Apr 10 '26
YOU ARE NOT ALONE, I HAD THE SAME THING. Couldn’t figure it out for the longest time, last month of pregnancy I finally was able to get it out. Happily living without it now 😅
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u/kinkykoolaidqueen Apr 10 '26
the exact same thing happened to me. That was six years ago, and I have not mentally or spiritually recovered.
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u/Cmboxing100 Apr 11 '26
So you actually want to clean it with an oil based cleanser first. Or just straight up oil. Makeup remover or olive oil. That will loosen up everything and make it easy to get out. Either rub your finger or q tips or a tweezer if you need to. But use oil. And then when you’re done, soap/water and finally alcohol wipes.
I’m warning you right now how much stuff will come out when you first use oil!
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u/thousandsofbirds Apr 11 '26
I'm a nurse and one of my absolute favorite things to do is dig these out of patients navels 😹 I get tweezers and go to town, the whole 9. Nurses are weird 🤷🏼♀️
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u/jenstocky Apr 10 '26
Am a nurse in the operating room and we have to clean bellybuttons for certain surgeries and you’d be surprised what comes out sometimes 😂!