The mother kangaroo method It is the attention to premature children keeping them in skin-to-skin contact with their mother. It is a method that has been proven effective and easy to apply that promotes the health and well-being of both preterm and term infants.
The origins of this method are in Bogotá, Colombia, where the kangaroo method was developed as an alternative to incubator care, inadequate and insufficient, provided to premature newborns who had overcome initial difficulties and who only needed to feed and grow.
It was started in 1978 by Dr. Edgar Rey-Sanabria, a pediatrician and professor at the National University of Colombia, at the Maternal and Child Institute (IMI) of Bogotá and then developed by Dr. Héctor Martínez Gómez with the subsequent help of Dr. Luis Navarrete Pérez and the permanent help of the IMI pediatricians.
UNICEF supported the Mother Kangaroo Program, and in 1994 the Kangaroo Foundation was created, which has maintained and expanded the activities not only of research but also of assistance and academic training in the kangaroo method.
More than two decades of application and research have made it clear that the kangaroo mother method It is more than an alternative to incubator care. The clear benefits for premature babies gave way to the benefits for any baby.
It has been shown that the kangaroo method has an effective impact on the control of temperature, breastfeeding and the development of emotional bonds related to all infants, regardless of their environment, weight, gestational age and clinical situation.
Its effectiveness, safety, refinement have been established thanks to the results of scientific research carried out in different parts of the world by different groups since the late 80s.
Characteristics of the Kangaroo Mother Method
The main characteristics of the kangaroo mother method They are:
- Early, continuous and prolonged skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby (although it is admitted that this may not be possible in all settings and in all circumstances).
- Exclusive breastfeeding (in the ideal case).
- It starts in the hospital and can be continued at home.
- Young babies can be discharged in a short time.
- Mothers in your home need adequate support and follow-up.
- It is a friendly and effective method that avoids the hustle and bustle that predominantly prevails in a pediatric ward occupied by premature babies.
The tests relating to the effectiveness and safety of the kangaroo mother method they refer only to premature newborns without medical problems, the so-called stable neonates. Research and experience show that:
The kangaroo method is equivalent, at least, to conventional care (in an incubator) with regard to safety and thermal protection, if this is calculated according to mortality.
By facilitating breastfeeding, the kangaroo method offers considerable advantages in cases of severe morbidity.
The method contributes to the humanization of neonatal care and to enhancing the emotional ties between the mother and the child in low and high income countries.
In that sense, the kangaroo method is a modern method of care in any environment, even in places where expensive technologies are available and access to adequate care is available.
Intermittent skin-to-skin contacts are beneficial if they are complemented with appropriate incubator care.
Definitely, the kangaroo mother method is a humanized practice strategy of neonatal care that allows a more rational and economic use of the technical and scientific resources necessary for the care of premature newborns and, in general, any newborn will benefit from its advantages.
