Contents
- The kangaroo method for premature babies
- What is the kangaroo method?
- What is the kangaroo position?
- Who can benefit from the kangaroo method?
- What are the benefits of the kangaroo method for the baby?
- What are the benefits of the kangaroo method for the mother?
- In which hospitals is the kangaroo method practiced?
The kangaroo method for premature babies
What is the kangaroo method?
Giving heat to premature babies by keeping them skin-to-skin against their mother in order to complete their maturation, such is the aim of the kangaroo method. This one appeared in 1978, in Colombia. Faced with the lack of incubators, the pediatrician Rey Martinez has indeed noticed that low weight infants mostly needed warmth and food. Skin to skin against their mother, they can benefit from both thanks to close breastfeeding. The benefits were not long in coming …
What is the kangaroo position?
Concretely, the infant must be placed skin against skin with his mother, in a vertical position between the breasts, a large piece of fabric firmly tied around the mother’s body to hold it. His head should be turned to the side, his arms folded and his legs spread. like a frog. If the temperature in the room is high enough (22-24 ° C), the baby can be naked with a single diaper, socks and a cap. It must remain installed like this 24 hours a day.
Who can benefit from the kangaroo method?
Not all premature babies can benefit from this method. They should not have any respiratory, cardiac or neurological problems. They must also be able to suckle. For parents, it is important to be ready to accept the constraints of this method: wear the baby skin to skin day and night, except during care and changing, until the due date. The dad is therefore also involved.
What are the benefits of the kangaroo method for the baby?
Seated comfortably warm against his mother (or his dad), the infant remains at a constant temperature and can thus finish maturation. The direct warmth combined with the proximity of access to the breast to suckle makes this the best place for a toddler. The premature newborn must indeed be fed very often (approximately every 30 minutes during the day and every hour at night). Studies have shown that the risks of infection and contamination were lower with this method and that the length of hospital stay was reduced. Finally, the baby does not stay away from his mother as is the case in an incubator, the links are facilitated from the start.
What are the benefits of the kangaroo method for the mother?
What could be more difficult for a young mother to see her fragile little one leaving in an incubator, far from her. She helplessly witnesses this separation and often feels guilty. The kangaroo method avoids all of this and forge strong bonds between parents and their baby, since the whole family is involved. The mother also gains confidence in her ability to care for a premature baby.
In which hospitals is the kangaroo method practiced?
Many hospitals in France have kangaroo units. This is the case of the Rouen University Hospital, the Nantes Mother-Child Hospital, the Antoine Béclère Hospital in Clamart, the Angers University Hospital, the Orleans CHR, the Sainte-Anne Clinic in Strasbourg, of the Evreux Hospital Center … Maternities offering the kangaroo method are level II at least. Those mentioned above are level III and have a neonatal unit and neonatal resuscitation, except for Evreux and Strasbourg. The latter are level II and have a neonatal service.
Finally, there is the Mères-Kangourou association who can answer your questions. His website: http://accompagndelavie.net