Starting immediately after delivery, if your baby is healthy, parents can provide skin to skin contact. If your baby is born premature and taken to the NICU, the staff will allow you to place your baby on your bare chest when he or she is able. Being home during this pandemic has allowed me time to do a lot of online learning, take courses and deepen my understanding on a lot of topics. I love learning things that will make me a better professional and help the families I support.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends daily skin to skin sessions throughout the baby’s first 3 months. To receive ALL the important benefits, mom and baby need to stay skin-to-skin for 60 uninterrupted minutes.

The numerous benefits have been greatly researched and reported on throughout the years. Do you know where “kangaroo care” or “kangaroo mother care” originated from? “Skin-to-skin contact for the littlest of babies started in 1979, when neotatologists Edgar Rey and Hector Martinez, in Bogotá, Colombia, found themselves without enough incubators to care for all the premature babies in their hospital. Instead, they put the tiny babies on their mothers’ bodies and wrapped them in cloth carriers to keep them warm. The babies thrived, and the doctors named their technique, which also included breastfeeding and early discharge, the Kangaroo Mother Method.” (https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/kangaroo-mother-care)

Benefits for baby

-regulates baby’s heart rate and breathing

-keeps baby’s temperature stable

-stabilizes blood sugar

-stimulates the vagus nerve to aid in digestion

-helps babies cry less and deal with pain

-moves mother’s bacteria on to baby=more resistance to infection

-helps initiate breastfeeding

-aids sleep cycles (babies fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer)

Benefits for mothers

-increased milk production by stimulating prolactin

-lowers moms risk of postpartum mood disorders

-creates a strong connection between mom and baby with the release of oxytocin

-faster recovery from vaginal or cesearan delivery

-reduction in the release of stress hormones

For partners, they already know your voice, so your chest is the next best spot for them to get to know you better, feel and smell your skin and feel safe and secure. Kangaroo care can be beneficial for creating connections with adoptive parents, siblings, grandparents, friends or whoever you feel comfortable with snuggling your baby.

I was also reminded that kangaroo care is FREE, sets the stage for brain development, there are no side effects and it is readily accessible for anyone to partake in. Kangaroo can be beneficial for creating connections with birth parents, adoptive parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.Moms, dads, partners, siblings, grandparents, friends, whoever you feel comfortable with snuggling your baby.

The benefits of skin to skin are powerful for all involved. Since there is no specific age range to stop, snuggle away and enjoy the benefits. For more helpful information, facts and support check out www.yourfamilysjourney.com