Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) involves keeping premature or low birth weight babies in prolonged skin-to-skin contact with their mothers, similar to how baby kangaroos are carried in their mother's pouch. The main components of KMC are continuous skin-to-skin contact and exclusive breastfeeding. KMC provides benefits like increased breastfeeding rates, better thermal control for the baby, and lower rates of illness compared to conventional care outside of skin-to-skin contact.

1. KANGAROO
MOTHER CARE

2. Why is it called
"Kangaroo Mother Care"?
Mother kangaroo is a mammal (just like
us), and feeds its baby milk like we do (or
like we should!) from a nipple inside its
pouch.
The pouch covers the baby with skin, and
this not only protects the very immature
baby, but also provides it with a total
environment which is essential for
development.
This includes warmth, food, comfort,
stimulation, protection.
The baby is CARRIED for all this time,
without interruption !

3. What is Kangaroo Mother Care?
 Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a special way
of caring of low birth weight babies. It fosters
their health and well being by promoting
effective thermal control, breastfeeding,
infection prevention and bonding.
 In KMC, the baby is continuously kept in skin-to-
skin contact by the mother and breastfed
exclusively to the utmost extent, KMC is
initiated in the hospital and continued at home.

4. Components of KMC
 Skin-to-skin contact
Early, continuous and prolonged skin-to-skin
contact between the mother and her baby is
the basic component of KMC. The infant is
placed on her mother's chest between the
breasts.
 Exclusive breastfeeding
The baby on KMC is breastfed exclusively.
Skin to-skin contact promotes lactation and
facilitates the feeding interaction.

6. Benefits of KMC
 Breastfeeding: KMC results in increased breastfeeding rates
as well as increased duration of breastfeeding. Even when
initiated late and for a limited time during day and night, KMC
has been shown to exert a beneficial effect on breastfeeding.
 Thermal control: Prolonged skin-to-skin contact between the
mother and her preterm/ LBW infant provides effective thermal
control with a reduced risk of hypothermia. For stable babies,
KMC is at least equivalent to conventional care with
incubators in terms of safety and thermal protection.
 Less morbidity: Babies receiving KMC have more regular
breathing and less predisposition to apnea. KMC protects
against nosocomial infections. KMC is associated with
reduced incidence of severe illness including pneumonia
during infancy.

7. Thank You