Description of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC)
This method consists of skin to skin contact between mother and baby, even from the time of birth (from the delivery room or intensive, intermediate o basic care) as soon as possible, the food based on breastfeeding and the early discharge from the hospital. Fathers are also encouraged to hold their babies skin-to-skin. It is proven that KMC is safer, more comfortable, and longer if the Kangaroo Zak is used.
With preemies, who require care in Newborn Units with specialized technology and capacity to overcome the diseases of such a fragile baby, the KMC is used (based on skin to skin contact) to strengthen the bond between mother and baby, as it have been demonstrated the benefits of the “no separation of mother – baby”. After that, when the baby has overcome these initial complications, the exposure skin to skin is intensified (increasing the number of hours the baby is held) and it is started the adaptation phase during which the mother and the rest of the family are trained in the baby’s care, critical preparation for the discharge of the baby. At this phase they receive the support of the health professionals for the expression of fears and anxieties that allow them to be part of the fragile baby care.
In some countries, such training and the existence of ambulatory monitoring programs, allow babies to go home very soon and to have the support of a professional team who carry out a strict monitoring of the baby’s growth, his/her nutrition and neurological and sensory development, as well as his/her integration into the family.
Research from different authors describe how the KMC when it is correctly applied has demonstrated better results in the preemies development versus the infants that haven’t received kangaroo care.
The KMC is applied to obtain “cerebral protection” as it have been demonstrated that the simply fact of promoting skin to skin contact, improves the patterns of behaviour of the baby and places him/her where he was blurted out from: the womb.
It is well known, that while high-technology medical care is imperative, babies have to endure stressful conditions of which they were protected in the womb of their mothers: noise, light, painful procedures, cycles of sleep and wakefulness. And all these noxious stimuli affect the development of the neurological system, which is still immature, unable to respond adequately to all this and they become attacks for the preemie that can show sequels in the short, medium and long term. It is demonstrated that de painful stimuli (as pricking his/her heel) is a sensation they will remember until their early teens.
| Visit our Store Locator to buy the Kangaroo Zak and the Zakys, or go to our store www.NurturedByDesign.com |
When babies are not kangarooed, then The Zakys help the babies heal and develop |
