Kangaroo care is the practice of holding your diapered baby on your bare chest with a blanket draped over your baby’s back. Skin-to-skin contact is healing, benefitting both you and your baby. It’s something both mothers and fathers can do.
Your baby knows your scent, touch and the rhythms of your speech and breathing; he’ll enjoy feeling that closeness with you. Kangaroo care gives something special to your baby that only you can provide.
Kangaroo care can help your baby:
- Maintain his body warmth
- Stabilize his heart rate and regulate his breathing
- Gain weight
- Spend more time in deep sleep
- Spend more time being quiet and alert and less time crying
- Bond with you
- Have a better chance of successful breastfeeding. (Kangaroo care can also improve a mother’s breastmilk production.)
Kangaroo care has emotional benefits for you, too. It builds confidence and reduces your stress as you provide intimate care that can improve your baby’s health and well-being.
TIPS:
- Avoid using perfume or strongly scented soaps and creams.
- It’s best to wear a button-down top to facilitate easier access.
- Make sure you’re in a comfortable in the chair before holding baby.
- Nurses will assist and guide you, but the favored manner is to hold baby in an upright position with knees tucked up and cheek resting on your chest.
- Ask the staff in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) about its policy on kangaroo care. Some NICUs postpone kangaroo care until an infant is medically stable. Each situation is assessed individually.
- If your baby is not ready to be held, use gentle touch when you are able. Avoid stroking, as that type of touch can be overwhelming for preemies.
