KMC is an integral component of quality care for infants under five pounds who have low birthweight. KMC helps reduce mortality, morbidity and infections while increasing breastfeeding duration and maternal-infant attachment. Furthermore, it ensures a safe transition from facility to home.
KMC refers to a combination of interventions including skin-to-skin contact in kangaroo position, early discharge and follow up care that may or may not occur continuously or intermittently.
It is a natural way to care for your baby
KMC (Kangaroo Mother Care) has been shown to be just as effective as incubators at caring for low birthweight infants, making it an affordable and complementary option in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Furthermore, it promotes breastfeeding and improves preterm babies’ outcomes as well as increase mother-infant bonding while decreasing stress – providing a natural approach that humanizes neonatal health care services.
As opposed to incubators that isolate newborns and can lead to stress and adverse physiological changes, KMC positions babies directly with their mothers in skin-to-skin contact for incubation. This natural, noninvasive method regulates body temperature, encourages breastfeeding, leads to earlier discharge from hospital and lowers morbidity and mortality for preterm and low birth weight infants.
Studies have demonstrated the many advantages KMC can provide infants, in terms of survival, weight gain and medical evaluation. KMC can also serve to ease maternal and family burden associated with premature infant births.
Implementation can be challenging: many healthcare workers don’t understand KMC and women may lack support networks to practice the method. Furthermore, inadequate infrastructure and funding may limit its implementation.
Hema Magge, a pediatrician/researcher employed at the Gates Foundation and senior program officer of KMC, believes that its implementation has the power to save lives by preventing complications due to unneeded interventions. “KMC is completely humane with all the science behind it,” Magge states.
KMC is currently only used at hospitals in developing countries; however, Magge hopes to see it spread further. KMC is shifting away from simply saving preterm babies’ lives and towards normalizing all babies’ lives, she notes. We must move the culture of NICU from being an incubator towards one that prioritizes family-centric care model that involves changing how we treat newborns and mothers alike.
It is a great way to bond with your baby
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), also known as Kangaroo Care for short, is an innovative method used by new parents to bond with their infant. KMC involves holding the infant close to an unclothed chest in close contact while offering warmth and emotional support. KMC can be particularly beneficial to premature babies by helping regulate body temperatures and shifting calorie expenditure towards growth and development instead of warming. Furthermore, improving heart and respiratory rates leads to improved weight gain as well as less time in the NICU.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to understanding a newborn’s cries; with time, you will soon become adept at differentiating between different forms of crying. A steady but desperate cry may indicate hunger while an abrupt wail could indicate pain. You can use cuddles and other methods of stimulating your baby in order to boost oxytocin production – try touching or stroking their hands or feet to see which will have the greatest response from them.
Outside of KMC, other ways you can form bonds with your baby include singing to them, holding them close, and conversing. The more often you talk with each other and bond, the stronger your relationship will become and both parties will gain from one another’s company.
Babies form primary attachments to their parents; however, they may also form relationships with other people that make them feel safe and loved – such as grandparents, paid carers or older siblings. Babies who form multiple attachments are more likely to grow up healthy families and communities.
Studies demonstrate the benefits of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact for maintaining newborn health and bonding between them and their parents. Most studies on this topic were conducted in hospitals; however, their results are likely applicable in other settings as well, such as those located in low resource countries with many preterm and low birth-weight infants living there. Benefits may include reduced hospital-acquired infections; increasing breastfeeding rate; improving neuromotor development of infants and strengthening mother-infant bonding relationships – further research needs to determine optimal durations of skin-to-skin contact especially among LBW infants.
It is a great way to bond with your partner
Relationships are challenging; it can be easy for things to run on autopilot or your relationship to stagnate as time slips away at the end of each busy day. Therapists and experts who specialize in working with couples have identified some effective strategies for strengthening bonds – strategies which are realistic, practical and can fit easily into everyday life.
Make plans for a date night where both of you exchange facts about yourselves, like what cities and countries you have visited and your favorite foods. Plus, ask each other questions about each other’s pasts, what you love and dislike in each other, as well as future goals of your relationship – this conversational exercise will help both of you better understand each other and strengthen bonds of intimacy between both of you.
Establishing rituals and traditions together as a couple is another effective way of strengthening your bond. This could involve taking daily walks together, sharing a cup of coffee after dinner or simply sitting down together to talk about your day – creating these moments can keep the two of you from suffering emotional struggles in the long run.
Physical touch is also a vital aspect of bonding. While most people associate physical contact with sexual intimacy, you can create strong bonds simply by touching each other throughout the day – whether this means holding hands, giving a hug, or engaging in more intimate physical activities such as massage or hot baths.
Just as effectively, engaging in challenging and fun activities with your partner can stimulate the release of oxytocin – the natural bonding hormone. For instance, escape rooms or haunted houses offer thrilling challenges while simultaneously offering great communication opportunities between partners.
One great way to strengthen your bond with your partner is to write out a list of 10 attributes you admire and appreciate about them, then read it aloud as you tell them how much they mean to you. Doing this will remind both parties why they fell for each other in the first place.
It is a great way to bond with your siblings
Sibling bonds are lifelong connections that should be nurtured. By creating opportunities for siblings to spend time together – such as coloring or playing in the park – and holding regular family meals together and having one-on-one time, parents can help their children form deeper relationships. Doing this will enable them to build stronger bonds over time.
Kangaroo Care (KMC) is an essential practice in hospitals and neonatal intensive care units for newborn babies. Research has demonstrated its benefits on maternal, neonatal, breastfeeding outcomes as well as promotion. KMC can be performed a number of ways such as holding your newborn in a pouch or wearing them around the house; additional benefits may include helping mothers produce more milk while possibly helping prevent postpartum mood disorders; KMC has even been found to be an excellent way for siblings to bond together!
However, the benefits of KMC have only been demonstrated for newborns who are already stabilized; therefore further research needs to be conducted on how long a KMC session should last in order to maximize its impact – this requires enhanced data on duration of SSC in various settings and additionally requires research in areas like infant feeding, early discharge and follow-up.
Many studies did not specify the duration of SSC; however, some advocated its implementation within six hours after birth and after painful procedures; other research encouraged radiant warmers or incubators as alternatives; the frequency of promotion varied widely – between 2 hours in three studies to 22 hours daily across seven.
KMC can be an effective tool in supporting the wellbeing of newborns; however, its implementation in resource-limited countries can be daunting due to limited training and lack of space. To ensure nurses and physicians are competent at providing routine C-KMC sessions, it is vital that education programs and dedicated space be implemented and dedicated.