The Power of Birth Comes from Within, The Knowledge of Birth Comes from Support.

Friday, June 24, 2011

What’s a Kangaroo got to do with it?


Kangaroo Care or Skin to Skin contact began in the late 1970’s / early 1980’s in Columbia and resulted in a decrease in Infant Mortality by about 40%.    It is termed Kangaroo Care to describe how a baby Kangaroo is carried by its mother.  Since then there have been many more studies evaluating the benefits of Skin to Skin contact predominately with infants who are premature or are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  82% of NICU’s in the United States use Kangaroo Care.  However, all infants benefit from this amazing contact with their mother (or father) and the wonderful intimacy and attachment it brings.
Mothers and infants should be together.  We know this to be true.  This contact stimulates the infants’ behavior, helps them stay calm, decreases crying, stabilizes breathing and heart rate, maintains their temperature, increases the likelihood of successful breastfeeding, maintains the infants’ blood sugar and assists with weight gain.  Skin to skin increases parental confidence and helps them get to know their infant.  Plus, it just feels wonderful.    So, get that infant down to their diaper, hold them close, kiss their head and take a breath.  There is nothing more important than what you are doing right now.

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