Near to the Heart

Near to the heart Skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her pre term infant has been proven to greatly reduce the pain and trauma suffered by “premies” and speed their recovery.

According to Canadian researchers, premmies cuddling against their mother’s chest tend to recover faster from painful medical procedures that they must go through.

"Skin-to-skin contact by the mother, referred to as kangaroo mother care, has been shown to be efficacious in reducing pain in three previous studies," said co-author Celeste Johnston of Montreal's McGill University School of Nursing in an article published recently in the journal BioMed Central Pediatrics.

The study included 61premature babies born between 28 and 31 weeks. Half of the premmies were held in the "kangaroo mother care” position for 15 minutes before the painful heel lance procedure. The other infants were kept in an incubator.

The baby’s responses were measured according to the "premature infant pain profile", which measures grimacing, maximum heart rate and blood oxygen saturation levels.
Infants held by their mothers before and after the procedure tended to show a dramatically decreased recovery time compared to those left on their own.

“The shorter recovery time using [kangaroo mother care] is important in helping maintain the baby's health.” Johnston said.

Traditionally, the baby, wearing only a diaper, is held against the mother’s bare chest. The reason for this is that research has found that the mother’s body performs the function of an incubator as it helps regulate the infant’s bodily temperature. If the baby’s body cools, the mother’s temperature will increase and vice versa. Although this is most effective with skin on skin contact, it still works if the mother is wearing some clothing.

Babies tend to have a keen sense of touch, smell and hearing and feeling the beating of the mother’s heart, hearing her voice along with being supported in a womb-like environment helps give the infant a greater sense of security and comfort.

Another benefit of the wrap is that the infant is carried in front of the mother, and not on her back. She can thus observe her child and give it more attention.

The movement of the mother has also shown to decrease stomach ailments.

The Enfuleni Medi Clinic makes use of a cloth designed by Dr Elsie van Rooyen. It is a single piece of cotton fabric with two straps on either side of the centerpiece. This is then tied around the mother and her premmie to hold it securely on place. In this way, mothers can carry their baby around comfortably all day.The Kangaroo position is used extensively in less well equipped hospitals around the country, where the facilities for caring for delicate pre term babies is limited.

Mrs. Maydelene Moss gave birth to her son, Bokang, on 20 June at the Enfuleni Medi Clinic. Bokang, a 36 week premie, is still at the hospital, but is healthy and set to make a full recovery. His mother visits him daily.