Some sobering research. More evidence to support that separating babies from their caregivers is a violation of rights and causes maladaptive changes (Bergman, 2004). Kangaroo care is superior to Western high-tech care and results in positive psychosocial and cognitive impacts (Charpak, 2006).

We need more advocacy in healthcare organizations to require kangaroo care or skin-to-skin care is not just offered but supported and promoted in every case. We can’t save every baby, but we could hold every baby.

Reference

Nyqvist, Anderson, Bergman, Cattaneo, Charpak, Davanzo, . . . Widström. (2010). Towards universal Kangaroo Mother Care: Recommendations and report from the First European conference and Seventh International Workshop on Kangaroo Mother Care. Acta Pædiatrica, 99(6), 820-826.

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A new research article abstract published in January 2018 authored by Stephanie Ropars, Rejean Tessier, Nathalie Charpak, and Luis Felipe Uriza.

Abstract:

This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) intervention on the intellectual and attentional functioning of young adults born with low birth weight. Three hundred infants were randomly assigned at birth in one of two interventions, KMC or traditional care (TC), and completed cognitive tests at adulthood (19-21 years after recruitment). The main results show that participants with a neurological vulnerability at 6 months of age had higher IQ and sustained attention scores at adulthood if they had received KMC than if they had received TC.