Kangaroo Care: Love Capsules For Premature Babies
People are part of nature and we must learn a lot from it. Nature gives mothers the maternal instinct and one of the things that this instinct tells us as women are mothers is that our baby needs our touch, it needs the warmth of our skin.
Your baby needs to feel that he is an extension of you, he needs the security that your smell and your hands give him, he must listen to your heartbeat to calm himself, just as he did when he was in your womb. The kangaroo method is an effective way for babies, especially when they are premature.
What is the kangaroo method?
Kangaroo care is the best way for mothers to give their premature babies the love they need in order to continue to develop and grow strong. Gone is that premature babies were in incubators and that parents did not have the opportunity to be with their babies for fear of infections. Babies when they are born need their mothers, not only to establish the bond but also to be able to evolve better in their first weeks of life.
The kangaroo method is applied when a child needs an incubator (but it is also ideal for all newborns) because it is so small. Currently to be able to carry out this method, both the father and the mother must go to the hospital several times a day to be able to hold their baby in their arms and support him on the chest so that their little one can feel “skin to skin”, just like makes a baby kangaroo in its mother’s pouch.
It is emotionally necessary for the mother and the baby
For a mother there is nothing more heartbreaking than not being able to hold her baby in her arms for as long as she needs to feel him and give him his warmth from the moment he is born. In this sense, the kangaroo method is necessary for the emotional stability of the mother, but also of the baby.
Babies who can benefit from this method have higher defenses, breathe better, have a suitable temperature, gain weight and are noticeably happier. For something it will be, right? A cold incubator with medical personnel who, although they do their job well, have no emotional bond with the baby, it has nothing to do with the affection that a mother provides for her child.
All newborns need kangaroo care
Although it is true that premature babies should benefit from kangaroo care, all babies need to feel their mother even if they are not premature. When a baby is born the first thing he needs is to feel the security and comfort that his mother offers . By being placed skin-to-skin on the mother’s breast, the baby will stabilize better than in an incubator or a heated crib. The baby calms down listening to the heartbeat of its mother, thanks also to its smell and the sound of its voice.
The mother’s breath stimulates the baby’s breathing, the mother’s body heat helps to regulate the child’s body temperature (the mother’s chest temperature rises two degrees to warm the baby thanks to the mother-infant thermal synchrony ) and in addition, the colostrum nourishes the little one as soon as he begins to breastfeed. This will make it easier for the mother’s out-of-body experience to be less abrupt and she can feel welcomed and at home.
The father also counts
Although it is true that the mother is the one who is naturally indicated to do the kangaroo method because she is the one who has carried the baby in her womb during the nine months that the pregnancy lasts, we cannot forget that the father also has a very important role in everything . Daddy’s voice is also familiar and soothing to the baby and it can also help keep the baby in a good body temperature. The baby also needs to bond with his parents and have early contact with them.
