What is kangaroo mother care?

The WHO text explains: “KMC is the care of the preterm newborn placed in skin-to-skin contact with the mother. It is an effective and easy-to-use method to promote the health and well-being of both preterm and full-term infants.”

Health and well-being are the two key words and they are closely linked. Kangaroo has to do with the quality of care, it is a method that fits into the premature baby's therapy plan. It promotes close proximity and mother-baby contact, starting from the belief that the two should not be separated after birth. It is also helpful in a difficult period not only from a health point of view but also emotionally, for the whole family.

The main features of the KMC are:

1. Continuous and prolonged skin-to-skin contact from birth between mother (or father) and baby; it can last, depending on the case, from one hour to ideally 24 hours. It is important that contact occurs with bare skin.
2. Exclusive breastfeeding (optimum)8; Breast milk is essential for both the development and immune protection of the newborn. It is proven that thanks to intimate contact with the baby (KMC requirement) the mother produces more milk.
3. It starts in the hospital and can continue at home; compared to conventional care where the mother is often far from the baby (in the incubator), KMC is a method that promotes mother-baby closeness and knowledge. It begins under medical supervision and can be continued at home with mutual benefit.
4. Early discharge; compared to conventional methods, KMC allows a reduction in return home times.
5. Support and follow up; once home the mothers are followed and continue the follow up as per medical indications.
6. It is a non-invasive, effective, easy-to-apply method that puts the human aspect of treatment in the foreground.

In developing contexts, where basic health care is often lacking, KMC is implemented with the continuous method: the mother and the child are in contact as much as possible, up to 24 hours, so that the mother can promote thermoregulation in the newborn and act as an incubator.

In Western contexts defined as high settings, i.e. where advanced intensive care centers are guaranteed, an intermittent kangaroo method is instead predominantly applied, i.e. with long but not continuous 24-hour sessions.

In Italy there are finally many hospital facilities that embrace the high contact approach, not only for premature babies, a concrete sign of increasingly high and sensitive attention towards Birth.

Excerpt from the book "Let yourself be embraced" by Licia Negri