Our Experience With Kangaroo Care

My daughter was born with some minor health concerns. Because of this, the pediatricians at the hospital recommended she remain in the hospital for a week to be observed. It was very upsetting that we didn’t get to take her home; however, the experience was not entirely negative. I was able to stay in my daughter’s room the entire week, and we learned about a very valuable method of caring for babies. This method is called Kangaroo Care.

Kangaroo Care is a method often used with premature babies, but it has been proven to be very successful in helping both premature and term babies overcome a myriad of problems. Our daughter was not a preemie, but she had health issues related to her respiration rate. We were encouraged to do Kangaroo Care with her to speed up her recovery.

When I first entered my daughter’s room and expressed my desire to hold her, the nurses instructed me to wear my hospital gown with the front part open. They placed my baby, wearing only her diaper, on my bare chest. They described her position as head-up, skin-to-skin, tummy-to-tummy. She was hooked up to many monitors, so we could see exactly how this method of holding was affecting her breathing, oxygen intake, blood pressure, and pulse. The nurses were pleased with what they saw, and encouraged me to keep holding her like this – head up, skin-to-skin, and tummy-to-tummy.

In addition to holding her in this position, they also encouraged me to breastfeed on demand – that is, feed her whenever she wants to eat, paying no attention to the clock.

My husband and I were eager to do anything to speed up her recovery, so we utilized Kangaroo Care around the clock. She was constantly held skin-to-skin by either my husband or me, and I breastfed her whenever she so much as hinted that she was hungry.

After one 24-hour day of continuous Kangaroo Care, she had almost completely recovered. She remained in the hospital to complete her round of antibiotics, but we were no longer worried about her. I obviously have no way of knowing if she would have had such a speedy recovery without Kangaroo Care, but I truly believe it played a major role in helping her get better.

For a full week, our daughter had skin-to-skin contact with us and breastfed whenever she wanted. Even after she got out of the hospital, we continued to use Kangaroo Care regularly. It was wonderful. Rather than trying to get my house back in order, I was content to relax and snuggle with my baby. I knew that I needed to rest, and I felt confident that my daughter was reaping tremendous benefits.

Benefits of Kangaroo Care

Kangaroo Care is a wonderful way to bond with your baby and improve your baby’s health and well-being. There are numerous benefits associated with Kangaroo Care.

My husband and I did Kangaroo Care with our daughter nearly 24 hours a day for the first week of her life. We can’t say enough good things about the experience.

This blog will discuss the benefits of Kangaroo Care, and why Kangaroo Care works.

As I read and research Kangaroo Care, many of the benefits seem to center around an amazing feature of the female body. When a baby, wearing only a diaper, is placed between its mother’s bare breasts, the mother’s breasts change temperature in order to help her baby maintain its optimal body temperature. For example, if the baby begins to get a bit chilly, the mother’s breasts will warm up. If the baby is too warm, the mother’s breasts will cool down. It sounds a bit unbelievable, but it’s true.

Why is this important? If you think about it, a baby that isn’t using his energy to regulate his body temperature is able to use that energy elsewhere. As a result, babies participating in Kangaroo Care are shown to gain weight more quickly and have more rapid brain development.

Kangaroo Care gives the baby constant, easy access to the breast. This results in improved weight gain and better success and confidence in breastfeeding for both mother and baby.

Men do not have the ability to regulate body temperature like women and obviously cannot breastfeed, but there are other benefits of Kangaroo care that are able to be achieved by fathers. For this reason, men should also be encouraged to provide Kangaroo Care to their infants.

Kangaroo Care from either parent usually results in an improvement in breathing patterns, a more regular heart rate, and better oxygen saturation levels. When a baby is placed on the parent’s chest, the baby can hear the breathing and heartbeat of the parent. This stimulates the baby to have a similar breathing pattern and heart rate. In other words, the baby mimics its parent.

Additional benefits of Kangaroo Care include the following: longer periods of restful sleep, less crying, and longer alert periods.

To learn more about Kangaroo Care and our experience with it, visit my other blog.