Mothers are being encouraged to embrace the Kangaroo Mother Care method as a lifesaving measure for their preterm or premature babies, particularly in situations where access to incubators is limited.
Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Chijioke Ezeudu, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, emphasized the effectiveness of Kangaroo Mother Care during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Awka.
This method involves placing the premature baby in a pouch made from local fabrics or a pre-made pouch, and attaching it between the mother’s breasts for skin-to-skin contact. This direct contact provides the warmth and temperature regulation that an incubator would offer for premature babies.
Drawing inspiration from the kangaroo’s natural behavior, where premature offspring are nurtured in a pouch under the mother’s abdomen, Ezeudu highlighted the success of this method in situations where incubators are unavailable.
He explained, “When the kangaroo baby is born, it will enter the mother’s pouch, attach permanently to the breast, and will be sucking the breast until it is fully mature.
“Then the mother will bring out the mature baby kangaroo from the pouch and start walking around with it.
“So, that was where this method was adopted. If Animals can survive, it means that human beings can also survive.
“We have cases where incubator services might not be readily available and this method has proven to be wonderful. It gives almost the same result as a baby that has been nursed in an incubator all over the world.
The paediatrician said the kangaroo mother care method could be adopted if there was a shortage of incubators or the technicalities in the use of the incubators proved difficult.
According to him, the method could be continuous or intermittent depending on the hours the baby is attached to the body of the mother.
He noted that the continuous attachment method could take 18 hours per day, while the intermittent attachment takes two, four to six hours daily.
“The idea is that the premature baby is put in between the mother’s breasts for skin-to-skin contact to provide the warmth and temperature the incubators would have provided for the baby.
“The heartbeat and respiration of the mother help to equalise the baby’s heartbeat and helps the baby to breathe and the bonding between the mother and the baby is achieved.
“The baby attached to his mother’s breasts can also be breastfeeding comfortably and the mother can also walk around and carry on with her normal chores in the home while the baby is on kangaroo mother care.
“The beauty of kangaroo mother care is that anybody can practice it. If the mother is so tired, the father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, or anybody around can take over to provide warmth for the baby,” Ezeudu added.