Premature Babies Benefit From Parents' Touch
Kangaroo Care Delivers Results For Many Parents
UPDATED: 9:32 a.m. EDT September 10, 2002
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Some parents are using alternative methods to care of their premature infant.
WakeMed hospital in Raleigh is using the Kangaroo Care method in their neonatal intensive care unit to help improve the health of premature babies.
Tina Stevens and her husband used Kangaroo Care with their first child and hope to have positive results with their newborn daughter, Alex.
Alex was born at 31 weeks, nearly two months early, and weighed 3 pounds, 11 ounces.
Kangaroo Care gives Tina skin-to-skin contact with her baby. Nurses place Alex, wearing only a diaper, on her mother's chest.
"We try to encourage it as much as we can," said neonatologist Dr. Thomas Young.
Young says the benefits are obvious.
"You can look at heart rate and oxygen saturation rates and breathing rates, and they're all very stable and sometimes they even improve," Young said.
Studies show Kangaroo Care helps premature babies gain weight and improves survival rates. Parents also enjoy the benefits, said pediatric psychologist Dr. Melissa Johnson.
"When they get an opportunity to hold their child skin-to-skin, a lot of parents tell us that's when they start feeling like a mom or dad," Johnson said.
Kangaroo Care was initiated in Third World countries in the 1980s due to a lack of intensive care unit beds.
Experts say any parents can try Kangaroo Care with their infants. According to the University of Manitoba, mom or dad should sit in a rocking chair with their infant placed in a head-up position between the mother's breasts or on father's chest. The baby should be dressed only in a diaper and a hat, and covered with a light blanket once in position.
The university experts say Kangaroo Care should be practiced for 30 minutes once a day and gradually increased to two to three hours per day as tolerated.
WakeMed hospital in Raleigh is using the Kangaroo Care method in their neonatal intensive care unit to help improve the health of premature babies.
Tina Stevens and her husband used Kangaroo Care with their first child and hope to have positive results with their newborn daughter, Alex.
Alex was born at 31 weeks, nearly two months early, and weighed 3 pounds, 11 ounces.
Kangaroo Care gives Tina skin-to-skin contact with her baby. Nurses place Alex, wearing only a diaper, on her mother's chest.
"We try to encourage it as much as we can," said neonatologist Dr. Thomas Young.
Young says the benefits are obvious.
"You can look at heart rate and oxygen saturation rates and breathing rates, and they're all very stable and sometimes they even improve," Young said.
Studies show Kangaroo Care helps premature babies gain weight and improves survival rates. Parents also enjoy the benefits, said pediatric psychologist Dr. Melissa Johnson.
"When they get an opportunity to hold their child skin-to-skin, a lot of parents tell us that's when they start feeling like a mom or dad," Johnson said.
Kangaroo Care was initiated in Third World countries in the 1980s due to a lack of intensive care unit beds.
Experts say any parents can try Kangaroo Care with their infants. According to the University of Manitoba, mom or dad should sit in a rocking chair with their infant placed in a head-up position between the mother's breasts or on father's chest. The baby should be dressed only in a diaper and a hat, and covered with a light blanket once in position.
The university experts say Kangaroo Care should be practiced for 30 minutes once a day and gradually increased to two to three hours per day as tolerated.
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