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Jan 1, 2017 · Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a multifaceted intervention for preterm and low birth weight infants and their parents. Short- and mid-term benefits of KMC on survival, neurodevelopment, breastfeeding, and the quality of mother–infant bonding were documented in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Colombia from 1993 to 1996.
- Nathalie Charpak, Rejean Tessier, Juan G. Ruiz, Jose Tiberio Hernandez, Felipe Uriza, Julieta Villeg...
- 2017
Jan 1, 2017 · Dr Nathalie Charpak and several colleagues introduced the world to a new way of caring for low birth weight infants: In comparison with the usual cautious practice of incubator... Kangaroo mother care (KMC), developed in Bogota, Columbia in the 1970s, was considered an innovative and daring practice at the time.
Nathalie Charpak, MD, Pediatrician Scientific Coordinator, KMC Centers of Excellence, Bogota, Senior Researcher and Director, Kangaroo Foundation, Bogota, Colombia. In 1978, Dr. Edgar Rey initiated KMC at the “Instituto Materno Infantil” in Bogotá, Colombia. What is the KMC method?
- The Issue
- Research to Practice
- What's Next
Like other forms of "kangaroo care," KMC is an incubation method to keep newborns weighing 2000 grams or less at birth and those unable to regulate their own body temperatures warm1. Rather than isolating babies in loud, mechanical neonatal intensive care units (NICUs)—which have been shown to cause both psychological stress and adverse physiologic...
During an interview with PAHO, Dr. Charpak outlined three types of surrogate benefits emerging from an intervention like KMC. Firstly, from a sociological standpoint, placing babies in direct contact with their parents presents an immediate opportunity to establish a parent-child relationship without delay and avoids separating the neonate from car...
Although KMC originated in response to limitations of resource-poor hospitals, the benefits attributable to this health service has undoubtedly extended beyond its original purposes and generated new knowledge to improve the standards of care for newborns. From discussion with Dr. Charpak, we arrive at the conclusion that KMC is neither a return to...
Nathalie Charpak (born 1955) is a French and Colombian pediatrician. As the founder and director of the Kangaroo Foundation, and associate researcher of the Pontifical Xavierian University, her research focuses on the care of low-birth weight preterm infants and the application of kangaroo mother care.
Jan 2, 2007 · A randomized, controlled trial of kangaroo mother care: results of follow-up at 1 year of corrected age. A review of guidelines for the discharge of premature infants: opportunities for improving cost effectiveness. The ‘kangaroo-method’ for treating low birth weight babies in a developing country.
In addition, KMC represents a way of humanizing neonatal healthcare, through the promotion of maternal–infant bonding and breastfeeding; two essential elements for the survival and optimal development of low-birthweight infants. Correspondence: N. Charpak, Kangaroo Foundation, Carrera 7a #46–20, Apto 2001, Santa Fe de Bogotá DC, Colombia.
