Kangaroo mother's method improves quality of life in preterm infants
How to help premature babies avoid the problems they usually develop? How to improve your quality of life? The answer is in the "kangaroo mother" method, a technique that according to a study by Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, is very beneficial to ensure good development in these children.
Kangaroo method: skin with skin and lactation
What is the "kangaroo mother" method? This study, published in the journal Pediatrics, defines this system as a breeding that bets on the Skin-to-skin contact for most of the day and that offers exclusive breastfeeding. To verify these skin-to-skin benefits, two groups of premature babies were controlled, on the one hand those whose mothers performed similar practices to this form of care and on the other, those who did not.
Indeed, those mothers who opted for a similar upbringing to the "kangaroo mother" with a skin-to-skin contact made the quality of life of their premature babies benefit. The first of these benefits was to verify that these children had a better performance at social and behavioral level. That is, this group was less aggressive and calmer than the rest.
The second benefit of the "kangaroo mother" is the improvement in the brain development of premature babies. According to these researchers, this method of parenting in these children caused the area of the brain destined for learning to grow correctly, and this was also significantly larger than that of the other control group.
Breastfeeding: ideal for premature babies
The "kangaroo mother" method also includes breastfeeding as a feeding system for the premature baby. At this point the importance is crucial because the Breastfeeding reduces the risks of infection which are more prone to these children because they do not have the immune system so developed.
Breastfeeding helps prevent many of these problems in all babies and in the case of premature becomes a fundamental food. Thanks to breast milk, children who are born prematurely have easier to finish the development they could not fulfill within their mother's womb. In addition, the health problems that threaten them were also kept in check.
Another benefit of breastfeeding in premature babies is that it helps the stay of these children in the hospital is less, something that benefits both them and the mothers. Receiving hospital discharge helps the child grow up in the home environment, a more favorable environment where he will interact daily with the rest of the members of this house.
Yes, as indicated by Dr. Lydia Furman, responsible for this study, we still need to work on this method. First of all within hospitals, centers that must offer facilities to bet on the method of the "kangaroo mother", for example, help so that no child stays in bed holding the breast of his sleeping mother.
Damián Montero
