{"id":156642,"date":"2016-11-16T10:03:27","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T15:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=156642"},"modified":"2016-11-15T15:20:43","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T20:20:43","slug":"kangaroo-care-saving-lives-premature-infants-around-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kangaroo-care-saving-lives-premature-infants-around-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Kangaroo Care is saving the lives of premature infants around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As technology and medicine advance, more premature children are surviving at younger and younger ages. Even at just 23 weeks<\/a> gestation, doctors are able to help children win the fight for their lives. But one particular action that is helping to save lives has nothing to do with doctors or medical equipment. It’s all about a mother’s instinct and inspiration found in nature.<\/p>\n

In recent years, what’s known as Kangaroo Care has been popping up on medical television dramas, including Grey’s Anatomy<\/a>. The holding method is based on the way a mother kangaroo carries her child in her pouch for a year, her baby always close to her skin, warmed by her body. In a similar fashion, a newborn human is placed on her mother’s bare chest – belly to belly, in between the breasts with the child’s head turned so she can hear her mother’s heartbeat.<\/p>\n

The womb is the most comfortable<\/a> place for a baby, and after birth, it’s jarring to not have the warmth and familiar sounds of life before birth. When a newborn is placed directly onto the mother’s skin after birth, the mother’s warmth and the sound of her heartbeat remind the child of that comfort. In addition, that skin-to-skin contact increases attachment between mother and child, supports infant brain development, and helps with breastfeeding. However, this skin-to-skin contact has become more than an opportunity to bond with your child right after birth; it is proving to actually save lives.<\/p>\n

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