Kangaroo care is the practice of holding your diapered baby on your bare chest (if you’re the father) or between your breasts (if you’re the mother), with a blanket draped over your baby’s back. This skin-to-skin contact benefits both you and your baby. Kangaroo care is safe and beneficial, even if your baby is connected to machines. Whatever your situation, this is a precious way to be close to your baby.
Ask your neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) staff about their policy on kangaroo care. Some NICUs postpone kangaroo care until the infant is medically stable, while others use it from birth onward.
You may be a little nervous about trying kangaroo care. If your baby is very small or sick, you may be afraid you’ll hurt him. But you won’t. Your baby knows your scent, touch and the rhythms of your speech and breathing, and he will enjoy feeling that closeness with you. Kangaroo care can help your baby:
- Maintain his body warmth
- Regulate his heart and breathing rates
- Gain weight
- Spend more time in deep sleep
- Spend more time being quiet and alert and less time crying
- Have a better chance of successful breastfeeding (kangaroo care can improve the mother's breastmilk production)
Kangaroo care has emotional benefits for you, too. It can build your confidence as you provide intimate care that can improve your baby’s health and well being. You are giving something special to your baby that only you can give. By holding your baby skin-to-skin, you may feel the experience of new parenthood and closeness to your baby. Kangaroo care is positive in many ways, for both you and your baby.
Resource
Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do to Help Your Preterm Infant, by Susan M. Luddington-Hoe and Susan K. Golant (Bantam Books, 1993).
