For mothers of premature and low-birth-weight newborns, the best care might be an idea borrowed from marsupials.
Kangaroo mother care, in which the mother holds the infant in a vertical position under her clothes, is a modern twist on cuddling that offers a bounty of benefits to newborns. It stems from the evidence-based observations of a Colombian pediatrician who saw new value in a mother’s role as the provider of heat, stimulation nutrition, and closeness for her infant.
The kangaroo position
With mom holding her newborn in kangaroo position — that’s a vertical position between mom’s breasts and under her clothes — baby has maximum skin-to-skin contact with mom.
In this position, the mother serves as an incubator, and medical science has shown that low birth-weight infants maintain a normal temperature range. Oxygenation, cardiac frequency, and other physiological parameters are maintained within normal values.
Pediatric specialists recommend beginning kangaroo position as soon as possible after birth, provided the infant and mother are stable enough to tolerate it. When sleeping, the kangaroo provider should remain in a semi-seated position.
Feeding policy
A huge benefit of kangaroo mother care is that during skin to skin contact, the infant can be fed at any moment.
When breast-feeding with kangaroo mother care, a strict schedule is initially followed. Once the infant’s growth is shown to be adequate, the schedule can be relaxed to accommodate to the infant’s demands.
Whether solely breast-feeding or combining breast-feeding with premature formula, kangaroo mother care can be offered to low birth-weight infants as soon as they overcome problems related to extra-uterine life adaptation.
Main benefits
Benefits of the kangaroo position include:
• Reduction in risk of infant dying during the first year.
• Statistically significant reduction in nosocomial infection incidence and total hospital stay during the first year of life.
• Appropriate growth and development.
• More prolonged breast-feeding.
• Strengthens mother to infant bonding, and reinforces mothers’ feelings of competence.
• Results in more appropriate and stimulant family environment.
• May protect the sicker and more immature infants against developmental delay (brain protection).
For 20 years, kangaroo mother care has continued to gain acceptance throughout the world as a unique and readily available tool for improving the health of low birth-weight and premature infants.
