Kangaroo Care and Premature Babies Research Paper

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Kangaroo Care and Premature Babies

Kangaroo care entails holding a full term infant or premature so that there is a skin-to-skin contact between the newborn and the individual holding it. Individuals practice kangaroo care for premature infants for approximately two to three hours every day over a certain period. This takes place during early infancy, and the parent holds the baby against her bare chest. Medically stable babies can receive kangaroo care for up to any period since there is no maximum duration for them (Feldman et al., 2002).

Most parents may keep their babies in their arms for hours each day. According to research carried out, kangaroo care is essential as close bodily contact between the infant and the mother helps to stabilize the heartbeat, breathing and temperature of the premature infant. This is crucial as premature babies always have problems in harmonizing their heart and breathing rate. Mothers who exercise kangaroo care have an easy time breastfeeding as it improves their milk supply. This care enables the babies to experience long hours of sleep, decrease their crying, practice long alertness periods, gain weight and gets discharged early from the hospital (Tallandin & Scalembra, 2006).

Doctors use Kangaroo Maternal care contact in order to restore the unique bond between the mother and the infant following the impulsive separation during birth particularly in premature births. Kangaroo care consists of exclusive breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact and support for a mother-infant pair. A premature baby lacks various needs, which aids in, its growth. These needs may include the nurturing environment that the mother's womb gives the baby and protection from toxic substances that may harm the infant during its growth period. The other need is the benefits of motherly closeness that arise from the contact that the mother has with the child. Prematurity; therefore creates an exceptional phase in the life of an infant. A part of its prenatal development takes place in an environment outside the mother's womb and under different conditions that result from maternal separation (Aucott et al., 2002).

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There has been research on effects of prematurity on the health, psychology and behavioural development of the infant. The research has also looked at the relations that exist between the interventions that individuals undertake during the neonatal period and the consequences of development. Studies on the long-term effects that result from interference of the infants' growth have shown that the infant may gain in its cognitive abilities. It also shows that there is a global increase in the maternal sensitivity. There have also been a number of studies on the effects of the skin contact between mother and infant during the neonatal period on skills, which are self-regulatory in premature babies. The studies were on the consequences of such contacts on the infant's ability to regulate wake and sleep, manage behaviour and maintain an effortless exploration of its surroundings (Tallandin & Scalembra, 2006).

In addition, the capability of the infant to handle negative emotions, the way it coordinates attention between the mother and any object and how it modulates an arousal were part of the study. The skin-to-skin contact can modify each of the undesirable conditions that arise due to prematurity state of the infant. These conditions are the excess maternal separation loads that arise from routine nursery care, exposure to pain and deprivation of the sensory due to a limited maternal and tactile contact during the incubation phase. Skin-to-skin contact would promote the organisation of the infant's psychology and behaviour as shown in the prime of the maturity state of organisation and developed emotion regulation, joint engagement and explanatory skills during the first year. Tactile stimulation during the prenatal period is necessary to infants as it improves the state of organisation, attention, response to stress and aids in psychological maturation.

When a mother places the infant in direct skin-to-skin contact, she restores closeness of the infant thus ensuring psychological and physiological bonding and warmth. The kangaroo position provides an all set access to nourishment as it enables the body….....

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