Benefits of Kangaroo mother care

• It isn’t only preterm babies who can benefit from Kangaroo mother care (KMS). Dr Nils Bergman believes skin-to-skin contact is the normal biological way in which human beings ought to care for their babies, and there’s research to back up what he says. “More than 300 trials or tests have shown how skin-to-skin contact works better for low birth weight babies than incubators do. Incubators are still used because in western culture they’re still thought of as the ‘normal’ route to caring for premature babies.”
   
• “Being in skin-to-skin contact with a parent is recommended under any circumstance, except when specific problems such as illness or major surgery make it impossible,” Dr Bergman says.
   
• Skin-to-skin contact is also vital for premature babies’ growth and development because it promotes “self-attachment” – the inherent ability for a baby to attach to a breast and breastfeed spontaneously, which usually occurs within an hour of being left undisturbed on its mother’s chest. This means even tiny babies can often breastfeed and get optimal nutrition.
   
• “When there is skin-on-skin contact between a mom and her premature baby it’s highly unusual – unless something else goes wrong for mother and baby – for a mom to be unable to feed her baby in this way. 95% of babies are able to breastfeed easily if circumstances are as they should be,” Dr Bergman explains.
   
• Separating a baby from its mom causes a defensive reaction in the baby – one that prevents the baby from breastfeeding successfully, which Dr Bergman says, holds true even for older babies. “The problem with babies in incubators is that they’re separated from Mom, losing the opportunity to try and feed at the breast. You have to allow these babies this contact for the feeding reflex to kick in.”
   
• Through contact with Mom, a premature infant’s oxygen intake, immunity, heart rate and its digestive processes, are greatly improved. In fact, skin-on-skin contact has been used to successfully treat respiratory distress. This type of contact, together with feeding exclusively at the breast (or getting breast milk through a tube) also prevents babies from catching potentially life-threatening infections.

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