Kangaroo care

Kangaroo care is a way of holding a preterm infantso that there is skin-to-skin contact between the infant and the person holding it. The baby, wearing only a diaper, is held against the parent's bare chest. Kangaroo care is typically practiced for two to three hours per day, skin-to-skin, over an extended time period in early infancy.

The label kangaroocare was chosen to describe this strategy because the method is similar to how a kangaroo is carried by its mother. It is estimated that more than 200 neonatalintensive careunits practice kangaroo care today compared to less than 70 in the early 1990s. On recent survey found that 82 percent of neonatal intensive care units use kangaroo care in the United Statestoday.

Researchers have found that the close physical contact with the parent can help to stabilize the preterm infant's heartbeat, temperature, and breathing. Preterm infants often have difficulty coordinating their breathing and heart rate. Researchers also have found that mothers who use kangaroo care often have more success with breastfeedingand improve their milk supply. Further, researchers have found that preterm infants who experience kangaroo care have longer periods of sleep, gain more weight, decrease their crying, have longer periods of alertness, and earlier hospital discharge.

External links

• "Kangaroo Care Benefits" from Prematurity.org
• Kangaroo care

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo+care Wikipedia article Kangaroo care.