Barbara Krolak-Olejnik
WrocÃ?Â?aw Medical Uniwersity, Poland
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pediat Therapeut
Kangaroo mother care (KMC), is defined as skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her newborn. KMC and maternal care provision have become an important aspect of care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) associated with improved short-and long-term neonatal outcome. KMC has been associated with improvements in preterm infant outcome including decreased infant pain sensation and stress during mechanical ventilation and, improved lactation and breastfeeding success as well as improved preterm infant development and growth in the neonatal intensive care unit. KMC use also enhances maternal well-being and satisfaction and decreases risk for postpartum depression. For mothers with a preterm infant, participation, and education in provision of KMC may be facilitated by NICUs that practice family-centered care (FCC) as a care standard in the NICU. KMC of newborn infants with extremely low birth weight not only by mothers but also by fathers ought to be the routine procedure. A lot of barriers exist that make it difficult or even impossible but KMC is also possible for extremely low birth weight ELBW infants born from multiple pregnancies. The benefits of this procedure for twins and triplets have been presented. Scheme of parents education and KMC implementation has been proposed.
