How to Give Kangaroo Care in NICU

Kangaroo Care is a great new concept that is popping up in NICUs (Neonatal Intensive Care Units) across the country. This practice may be referred to as a skin-to-skin contact. Parents who use kangaroo care on hospitalized infants report better bonding, better breastfeeding and babies have fewer crying jags, better body temperature and more regulated breathing and heart rates. Read on to learn more about how to give kangaroo care in NICU.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Speak to your neonatologist (the doctor in the NICU). Ask what their opinion is about kangaroo care. They may be all for it, but your baby may have to be healthier or be off a specific machine so you can perform it. Feel free to bring them research about it. A good place to start is "Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do to Help Your Preterm Infant" by Susan Ludington-Hoe.
2. Enlist the nurses in the NICU to help you. Depending on the age and health issues of your baby, you may need the nurses to help transfer your baby to your chest.
3. Ask friends and families to help. The more a baby gets kangaroo care, the better they do. While moms and dads are the ideal performers of kangaroo care, grandparents, aunts and uncles can also do kangaroo care. Speak to your hospital for the rules about visiting family members.
4. Strip your baby down to their diaper and a hat.
5. Place your baby or have someone help you place your baby onto your bare chest, with your baby's ear against your chest.
6. Wrap your shirt around the two of you, or place a blanket over both of you.
7. Stroke your baby gently, talk to your baby or simply hold them close to you.
8. Plan on staying in one place for a while. Run to the bathroom before you start kangaroo care and make sure you have drinks, snacks and a book within reach.