Kangaroo care

[Guest Agnieszka Domanska]

I look for articles, opinions and maybe - your personal experience in kangaroo care of premature children. One of our nurses is working on her masters in this field. We would be very grateful for your help.

[Guest nicurn2083]

We encourage kangaroo care in our NICU. Our parents are able to do this type of holding for longer periods of time than if they were holding the baby in only blankets. It is a very calming experience for the babies and parents. I even had one mother who reported sleeping better at night after she was able to do kangaroo care in the evening. I can try to find some of the articles that supported the brochure that our parents receive on the benefits of kangaroo care. Hope this helps.

Jennifer Tucker RN, BSN

HCMC

Minneapolis, MN USA

[sweden]

KMc is an important part of the care of premature and sick babies, something research has shown time and time again.

The World Health Organization, WHO has given out a really good publication (titel: Kangaroo Mother Care, 2003) that gives more information,including evidence research and also the more practical aspect of the care.

Our unit has come a long way but still have miles to go. This is the last area of pediatric care where parents place is not protected and we routinly separate babies from their family.

KMC is one of the ways we can show the parents that they are important for their baby and that they can make a real difference.

We use KMC on all babies, ventilator/umbilical lines/CPAP/<500 grams and so on. Some fall in the category (clearly outlined in unit rules) where we have to ask the doctors the first time, but after that it´s up to each nurse to encourage the parents. Each ICU patient pod/area have a hospital bed so that the parents can be comfortable for longer times and have the baby out for as long as they wish. Some do KMC for an hour at a time and some for 8-10 hours per day (mum and dad usually take turns).

When the babies don´t need intensive care (ventilator or CPAP) the whole family can move into a private room with KMC 24/7. We have different types of shirts and devices so the parents can have baby on them and still have booth arms free. There is no a cutoff age/weight restrictions for this type of care.

Premature babies born at 32+0 weeks are allowed to start their life (directly from delivery) with their parents, usually on dad (KMC) since mum often needs medical attention. Thoose babies never use an incubator (or bed) since all care is done with them on their parents chest. That includes bililights and other medical treatments.

KMC is great but there are some circumstances where it´s not appropriate, at least not without extra regulations (mum/dad smokes, alcohol/drug abuse).

God luck with your friends theseis, I hope you find the information you need.

Anna

RN, BSN

[Guest Agnieszka Domanska]

Thank you very much. Your experience is very helpful and encouraging. We also let parents hold their babies and appreciate benefits of it for both sides - I mean children and parents. I would be grateful of any other kind of information, opinions etc in this field. It is interesting what you wrote about special shirts and other devices, have you any pictures?