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St. Dominic's Kangaroo Care Program Making A Hit with New Moms

Recognizing that revitalizing traditional approaches to the birth experience results in happier and healthier moms and newborns, a neonatologist has reintroduced "kangaroo care" to St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson.

"Women who practice 'kangaroo care,' or skin-to-skin snuggling with their newborns directly after birth, are finding more success early on with breastfeeding, as well as the all-important opportunity to bond with their babies," said Christina Glick, MD.

Glick is working to educate healthcare providers on the importance of revitalizing the centuries-old concept and said early skin-to-skin contact between mother and newborn is an important practice that has all but disappeared in modern hospital births.

In skin-to-skin contact, the naked baby rests on the mother's bare chest immediately after birth, taking advantage of what Glick calls "an extremely small window" and crucial bonding, early breastfeeding success and programming future behavior.

"Kangaroo care is much more beneficial than situations where the newborns are immediately taken out of the mother's arms to be swaddled or washed," said Glick. "Skin-to-skin contact immediately following birth was the norm for centuries following home births – it was something both the baby and mother instinctively knew was the right thing for both."

Glick said when hospital births became the norm, it was common practice for the baby to be removed from the mother's room, sometimes for several hours. This distance, while reduced somewhat in recent years, still creates an interruption in the natural process of a baby searching for the mother's breast and beginning to breastfeed. As a result, many mothers and babies never fully bond or find the rhythm needed to create a harmonious breastfeeding experience.

Glick and other childcare experts, including Nils Bergman, MD, who has studied the effects of kangaroo care, believe behavior of newborn infants is greatly influenced by environment. They believe evidence is leading healthcare professionals to discover that the most natural of those environments is to be in direct contact with the mother's skin following birth.

"Transitioning to life outside the uterus is a particularly strenuous, stressful and hazardous time for all newborn infants and particularly for those born prematurely," explained Glick. "Studies of infants (having direct contact with the mother's skin) immediately following birth show the reduction of stressors appears to have immediate and potentially long-term benefits."

Glick, also a breastfeeding educator, said a vital component of a newborn's adaptation is successful breastfeeding especially with all its known benefits for infant and lifelong health. Prompted by amazing improvement in outcomes for premature babies in third-world countries where incubators are not available, kangaroo mother care has since undergone extensive study and evaluation in both pre-term and term infants, she added.

A recent study evaluated healthy term infants exposed to skin-to-skin care immediately following delivery and found behavioral benefits. These included self-regulation of motor system balance and organization of sleep; attainment of a more flexed posture and movements and less extension, longer periods of sleep and less crying. All of these factors reflected improved central nervous system regulation, Glick said.

Glick shared that many studies have shown an infant that is laid on the mother's abdomen immediately after birth will instinctively find its way to the mother's breast and will eventually latch on and begin to breastfeed. While the initial feeding yields a very small amount of colostrum, it is a potent stimulator of prolactin release. This stimulates increasing amounts of colostrum on subsequent feeds, leading to future successful breastfeeding experiences for mother and baby.

"At least part of the newborn's ability to accomplish this amazing feat is modulated through the sense of smell of the amniotic fluid on their hands, so it is important to delay that first bath until this process has been completed, usually at least one hour and sometimes longer," Glick said. "The infant can successfully maintain its temperature while in direct skin-to-skin contact with the mother's warmth and covered with a warm drape or blanket. The positive behavioral aspects of the early experience protect and extend breastfeeding, improve maternal attachment behaviors and lend cardiopulmonary stability in late pre-term infants."

Tags:

Christina Glick, Jackson Mississippi, Kangaroo Care, Nils Bergman, St. Dominic Hospital

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