11/19/2020
What is the kangaroo approach?
💙While a baby is growing inside the mother's womb, she's in a protective, warm, quiet and ideal environment for its development prior to birth. Premature birth exposes the baby to stressors that don't contribute to the baby's brain development, including light, noise, and discomfort. All of that, in addition to the separation from the mother, is the complete opposite from the ideal environment inside the womb.
💜 The kangaroo method encourages "skin-to-skin" contact between the preterm infant and its parents. The baby is lying vertically, close to her mother's breasts or her father's chest, in direct contact with their skin, with only a diaper on. This way, the parent's body heat warms and maintains the baby's body temperature and contributes to its survival.
Preterm infants treated with this method required less IMV, suffer less respiratory arrest, gained better weight, only hospitalized for a short time and even the rate of breastfeeding among them was higher compared to preterm infants not treated with this method.
Studies also showed that preterm infants treated with the kangaroo method cried less, not only during their stay with the parent, but also during the rest of the day. Another advantage is when the contact of the "skin to skin"feeling increases the secretion of breastmilk and encourages the baby to latch.
❤ Most nursing staff at the NICU encourages both parents, to hold their premature baby using the kangaroo method as soon as they allow to. Doctors recommend holding the baby in a "kangaroo" depending on its condition, at least twice a day for 1-3 hours in a row or more. As long as both parents and baby enjoy it.
