Kangaroo Care: Meeting Your Preemie's Bare Necessities

When an infant enters the world prematurely-tiny, immediately placed on a respirator, covered with tubes, and housed inside an isolette-it is common for parents to feel detached from their baby. Tentatively, they place a finger inside the incubator, or shakily touch the baby's delicate skin. Fearful of overstimulation, they peer cautiously at the little face, praying that the monitor's won't start their frantic beeping.

Kangaroo care (also called skin-to-skin contact) provides a way to combat this fear and detachment, while giving the baby the physical stimulation it needs. The method was developed in Bogota, Colombia, in 1979, to make up for under staffing and a lack of incubators. Physicians in the South American hospital encouraged mothers to cradle their premature infants to their chests, keeping them warm next to their bodies as marsupials do. The doctors were surprised to find that not only did the babies survive, but they also thrived. Since that time, kangaroo care has been used in western Europe, including England, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, as well as in Canada and the United States.

Kangaroo care benefits both the premature infant and its parents. Studies have shown that infants who receive skin-to-skin may have improved lactation, less crying, longer sleep periods, better oxygen saturation, less apneas and may go home earlier than those who do not. In addition, babies bond with their parents and receive needed stimulation. Parents also benefit from kangaroo care: they tend to feel more confident about caring for the child, more comfortable with taking a tiny baby home and less detached. In addition, the close physical contact tends to stimulate the production of more breastmilk. Some mothers feel that this kind of care helps them to finish what was started in the womb-close, physical, bonding contact.

Skin-to-skin contact has become a routine part of many NICU regimens. When our son was in the NICU, the staff encouraged both of us to try kangaroo care. Perhaps it is not for every parent, but it was enjoyable and fulfilling for us.

Many parents may desire to perform kangaroo care from the beginning, and it can be started as soon as the infant is in stable condition. Since it can overstimulate a preemie, time spent cuddling in this manner should be limited to what the infant can handle. Skin-to-skin time can be gradually increased according to the dictates of the child.

Although kangaroo care has been used primarily in the care of premature infants, it can be used on any baby to promote bonding and closeness. It can also be used to calm a crying baby.

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