Kangaroo care first originated in Bogota, Columbia, in response to the high mortality in preterm babies, reaching nearly 70%.¹ This high mortality was due partly to a shortage of isolettes, which required placing more than 1 infant in the same bed, thus increasing the infection rate. Researchers found that infants who were held close to their mothers’ bodies for large portions of the day not only survived but also thrived. Rates of maternal abandonment decreased as well.² As news of the success of the program spread in the 1980s and 1990s, the practice was adopted in many NICUs in the United States. Evidence suggests that there are many emotional and physiologic benefits to kangaroo care.³  In infants, the practice:

•produces increased sleep time

•decreased purposeless motor activity

•decreased crying

•improved weight gain

•increased alertness

•decreased length of stay

•enhanced parent–infant bonding

• lower rates of depression⁴

References

1. Eichel P. Kangaroo care: expanding our practice to critically ill neonates. Newborn Infant Nurs Rev. 2001;1:224–228.

2. Anderson GC. Kangaroo care of the premature infant. In: Goldson E, ed. Nurturing the Premature Infant: Developmental Interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery. New York: Oxford University Press; 1999;131–160.

3. McGrath JM, Brock N. Efficacy and utilization of skin-to-skin contact in the NICU. Newborn Infant Nurs Rev. 2002;2:17–26.

4. Feldman R, Eidelman A, Sirota L, Weller A. Comparison of skin–skin (kangaroo) and traditional care: parenting outcomes and preterm infant development. Pediatrics. 2002;110:16–26.

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