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I'm a Kangaroo Baby

Exploring Kangaroo Care

By Marie-Helen Goyetche

"We, too, alternated days. There was a sense of jealousy when one was holding Tyler. It was the highlight of our day," says Nancy. "It was a little awkward at first since Tyler was on the respirator. I'm sure it helped with Tyler's overall development. When his lungs got stronger, he started to gain weight. He didn't have any infections premature babies normally have."

Now, both babies are getting bigger and stronger. In mid-September, Tyler weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces. At Sydney's mid-September check-up, she weighed in at just over 5 pounds.

Not all hospitals support Kangaroo Care. And among the ones that do, many have different opinions on which babies should participate in it.

Wheeler-Sherman says infants as young as 25 weeks gestation are allowed to participate in skin-to-skin contact at the University of California, San Francisco. But the babies must meet certain criteria and be termed "clinically stable."

"He keeps his heart rate up and doesn't drop his oxygen levels when handled," she says. "The infant does not have an arterial line, an umbilical venous line or a chest tube. The baby is not requiring medications to keep his blood pressure stable. The baby recovers quickly from apneic and bradycardic episodes."

While Kangaroo Care has been around for several years, Wheeler-Sherman says it's still a relatively new method that is being incorporated into routine preemie care.

Kangaroo Care allows more parental participation than does a traditional NICU approach. In any situation, parents of preemies can find out about a particular hospital's policy regarding skin-to-skin contact and request that it be allowed. The benefits for baby -- and parent -- could be well worth the effort.