by Kimberly R.

Kangaroo Care has truly remarkable effects on both baby and parents. If you have ever provided Kangaroo care for your baby, you have most certainly witnessed this first hand. Kangaroo care consists of placing the premature baby on the parent’s chest, skin to skin. As a mother of twin micro-preemies, I can declare how very effective this skin to skin contact was for the health and development of my babies. There were clear, measurable outcomes that resulted from this very special time that was shared between myself and my very medically fragile babies.

The benefits of kangaroo care have been demonstrated in research studies. Benefits for the baby include improved breathing pattern, stabilization of baby’s heart rate, decreased crying, weight gain, more successful breastfeeding, decreased apnea and bradycardia episodes, decrease in ventilator requirements, and many more. Furthermore, kangaroo care can help increase chances of having a shorter hospital stay. Throughout the four and a half months that my twins were in the NICU, my husband and I witnessed all of these benefits with our babies. In fact, when we were told that is was medically safe to begin kangaroo care four weeks after our twins’ birth, we could barely contain our excitement. We were not only excited over the fact that this act made us finally feel like “real” parents and was the first time we were able to hold our newborns, but even more so of the reaction that we received from the babies. It was the most wonderful feeling to see their heart rates stabilize as they rested peacefully on our chests. Their oxygen needs decreased, they experienced significantly less “A’s and B’s” (apnea and bradies). This was our first experience with being in the NICU and not hearing our babies’ monitors set off alarms every few minutes. Throughout our NICU stint, our babies reaped the benefits of this skin to skin contact in so many ways.

Not only do the babies benefit greatly by being provided kangaroo care, but parents do too. Parents benefit by gaining increased confidence in their ability to care for their babies while experiencing such circumstances, there is improved bonding and feelings of closeness with their babies, increased confidence that their babies are being well cared for, and an increased sense of control. In addition, it is very common that mothers will experience an increase of milk supply. For us, kangaroo care was a great turning point in our parenthood experience. We did not feel as helpless as parents of medically fragile children do. Of course we felt a bond with our babies but having to wait for four weeks to touch them with more than a fingertip or palm of our hand was truly painful. Once we were able to cradle them skin to skin, we felt the bond solidify and in turn made so many things more bearable and improved.

Research has shown that when a mother is kangarooing, her breasts can increase temperature when the infant’s body is cool and can decrease in temperature as the baby is warmed. The extra sleep a baby gets during kangarooing helps the baby conserve energy and directs calorie expenditures toward healing, growth, development and weight gain. It is said that the different feel of the father’s body will provide different positive stimulation for the baby. Furthermore, research has shown that kangaroo care also benefits brain development.

If you have not been introduced to kangaroo care by your NICU nurses or doctors, I highly recommend that you inquire with them. Your NICU staff will advise you of when it is appropriate to kangaroo and for what duration. With the sickest of babies, the mere move from incubator to parent’s chest expends too much energy. A baby needs to be stable enough to endure the process. Once it is determined that it is the appropriate time, your baby will certainly exhibit signs that he/she is benefiting from this very special care.

For those of you who have not done kangaroo care, you are are in for a special experience. For those of you who practice kangarooing already, I know you enjoy every minute of it and have witnessed some pretty remarkable benefits. The best news is that you are not only providing your baby many benefits with kangarooing, but you are also sharing and celebrating the beautiful bond between parent and child. Happy kangarooing!

Summer is such a fun time!!   New experiences are full of excitement and learning opportunities.

 

As we have been at the airport several times this past months we started to read and talk more about airplanes, “aviones” in Spanish. I decided to focus our readings and activities around this topic the week we went to pick up grandma from the airport. We spent time playing with toy airplanes, we mimicked being airplanes flying around the house. At the backyard we observed airplanes as they fly above in the sky. We talked about the different airplane-colors and we also counted how many airplanes we can see.

Our favorite book is: Angela’s Airplane.

 

We also created an Airplane kite. Perhaps you would like to try creating your own. Here is the story of our kite with pictures.    Hope you enjoy it.

 

Attach 3 pieces of ribbon to the lid and tie them together with a knot.

Put the lid through the bag and pul the ribbon out of the hole.

Attach another piece of ribbon to the knot for flying.

Last part of the airplane lesson was so funny I have to share it with you. 

 

 

 

Happy flying!

Edna blogs at Multicultural Kiddos.