This is another brilliant article about skin to skin kangaroo care.  Sometimes we need to questions advanced technology and step back in time to simpler methods- basic methods that answer both the baby's needs and the needs of his mother.

The Human Incubator

By TINA ROSENBERG

Bullit Marquez/Associated PressA mother in the Philippines used the warmth of her body to nurture her prematurely born daughter.

Sometimes, the best way to progress isn’t to advance — to step up with more money, more technology, more modernity. It’s to retreat.
Towards the end of the 1970s, the Mother and Child Institute in Bogota, Colombia, was in deep trouble. The institute was the city’s obstetrical reference hospital, where most of the city’s poor women went to give birth. Nurses and doctors were in short supply. In the newly created neonatal intensive care unit, there were so few incubators that premature babies had to share them — sometimes three to an incubator. The crowded conditions spread infections, which are particularly dangerous for preemies. The death rate was high.
Dr. Edgar Rey, the chief of the pediatrics department, could have attempted to do what many other hospital officials would have done: wage a political fight for more money, more incubators and more staff.

He would likely have lost. What was happening at the Mother and Child Institute was not unusual. Conditions were much better, in fact, than at most public hospitals in the third world. Hospitals that mainly serve the poor have very little political clout, which means that conditions in their wards sometimes seem to have been staged by Hieronymous Bosch. They have too much disease, too few nurses and sometimes no doctors at all. They can be so crowded that patients sleep on the floor and so broke that people must bring their own surgical gloves and thread. I recently visited a hospital in Ethiopia that didn’t even have water — the nurses washed their hands after they got home at night.

Proof that more money and more technology isn’t always the answer.

Rey thought about the basics. What is the purpose of an incubator? It is to keep a baby warm, oxygenated and nourished — to simulate as closely as possible the conditions of the womb. There is another mechanism for accomplishing these goals, Rey reasoned, the same one that cared for the baby during its months of gestation. Rey also felt, something that probably all mothers feel intuitively: that one reason babies in incubators did so poorly was that they were separated from their mothers. Was there a way to avoid the incubator by employing the baby’s mother instead?
What he came up with is an idea now known as kangaroo care. Aspects of kangaroo care are now in use even in wealthy countries — most hospitals in the United States, for example, have adopted some kangaroo care practices. But its real impact has been felt in poor countries, where it has saved countless preemies’ lives and helped others to survive with fewer problems.

Agence France-Presse A mother and child in Colombia, where the “kangaroo care” method was first used in the late 1970s.

In Rey’s system, a mother of a preemie puts the baby on her exposed chest, dressed only in a diaper and sometimes a cap, in an upright or semi-upright position. The baby is strapped in by a scarf or other cloth sling supporting its bottom, and all but its head is covered by mom’s shirt. The mother keeps the baby like that, skin-to-skin, as much as possible, even sleeping in a reclining chair. Fathers and other relatives or friends can wear the baby as well to give the mother a break. Even very premature infants can go home with their families (with regular follow-up visits) once they are stable and their mothers are given training.
The babies stay warm, their own temperature regulated by the sympathetic biological responses that occur when mother and infant are in close physical contact. The mother’s breasts, in fact, heat up or cool down depending on what the baby needs. The upright position helps prevent reflux and apnea. Feeling the mother’s breathing and heartbeat helps the babies to stabilize their own heart and respiratory rates. They sleep more. They can breastfeed at will, and the constant contact encourages the mother to produce more milk. Babies breastfeed earlier and gain more weight.
The physical closeness encourages emotional closeness, which leads to lower rates of abandonment of premature infants. This was a serious problem among the patients of Rey’s hospital; without being able to hold and bond with their babies, some mothers had little attachment to counter their feelings of being overwhelmed with the burdens of having a preemie. But kangaroo care also had enormous benefits for parents. Every parent, I think, can understand the importance of holding a baby instead of gazing at him in an incubator. With kangaroo care, parents and baby go through less stress. Nurses who practice kangaroo care also report that mothers also feel more confident and effective because they are the heroes in their babies’ care, instead of passive bystanders watching a mysterious process from a distance.
The hospitals were the third beneficiaries. Kangaroo care freed up incubators. Getting preemies home as soon as they were stable also lessened overcrowding and allowed nurses and doctors to concentrate on the patients who needed them most.
Kangaroo care has been widely studied. A trial in a Bogota hospital of 746 low birth weight babies randomly assigned to either kangaroo or conventional incubator care found that the kangaroo babies had shorter hospital stays, better growth of head circumference and fewer severe infections. They had slightly better rates of survival, but the difference was not statistically significant. Other studies have found fewer differences between kangaroo and conventional methods. A conservative summary of the evidence to date is that kangaroo care is at least as good as conventional treatment — and perhaps better.

HERE to read the entire article in the NYTimes

Canada Needs Milk Banks!!!

Our government likes to spout off that they are oh so supportive of breastfeeding and in some ways they are.  In Canada women can get a total of 12 months of maternity leave, our Rights to breastfeed in public is protected by law, and mothers are legally allowed to pump/nurse at work.  It all sounds so wonderful, yet the reality is that none of this type of so called "Breastfeeding Support" costs our  government a thing.  We pay into our EI (employment insurance) premiums- many of us for years and years. Upholding a womans  Right to breastfeed in public  also costs our government nothing.  So if our Government is soooooo supportive of breastfeeding, then where's the cash?

I've been ranting and talking about the lack of breastfeeding support in this country for several years.  Words are very pretty, and let's face it politicians seems to know all the pretty words, but words don't put breastmilk into little tummies!

Never mind the fact that there is no standardized training for medical personnel in Breastfeeding and lactation.
Never mind the fact that there is no government support to encourage hospitals to attain "Baby Friendly" status
Never mind the fact that the government quietly keeps cutting back and closing breastfeeding support systems/groups cross the country
Never mind the fact that the politicians are lying SOB's that would sell their own mother if they thought it would net them a profit  (opps!  did I say that out loud?)

Lets talk about milk banks.  Did you know that Canada has one lone milk bank (located in Vancouver BC)?  Did you know that they have closed it or attempted to close it down several times over the years due to funding cut backs and that the only reason it's still running is because every time they attempt to close it again, the public goes wild and organizes mass protests and gets the media involved?  Then as soon as it's all quiet.... they try to close it down again!!!  Did you know that the milk processed at the BC Womens Hospital Milk Bank is only used for patients of the hospital, and that any milk shipped elsewhere is sold to the recipient?

BC Women's Milk Bank
The BC Women’s Milk Bank has operated for over thirty years. It provides pasteurized donor milk to high risk and ill children when their mothers are not able to provide enough breast milk. The pasteurized donor milk is provided with a doctor’s or midwife’s prescription. A processing fee is charged for recipients outside of BC Children’s & BC Women’s Hospitals.

WOW!!!  isn't that supportive of our government? It's said that actions speak louder than words, so I'd say that all their pretty words don't mean jack shit when compared to their actions.

What would the reaction be if blood banks suddenly started selling the donated blood to people in desperate need?  I think that the media would have a heyday and that the government would be forced to step in and make sure that the DONATED blood was made available to ALL those in need of it.


To those in NEED.  Like those tiny preemie babies, those babies born with serious medical issues, and those babies born to mothers who cannot produce their own breastmilk- they NEED breastmilk. Women all around this country are asking where they can donate their milk, asking if there is anyone that needs the sometimes hundreds of ounces of breastmilk that they have pumped and saved. We are willing, we are able...... yet the government refuses to acknowledge the need or the necessity.  Sometimes the mothers of these babies are lucky and they have a support network in place that allows them to reach out to the breastfeeding community and accept private donations, but the reality for most mothers with infants in need is that they just have to make do with whatever is available through their hospital.  Babies that could of been saved if they'd been fed breastmilk die. Because our Government does not support breastfeeding... or at least they don't if it's going to cost them anything. 

Apparently the lives of this countries youngest citizens don't matter.

Kangaroo care: the cuddle of life

This story brought tears to my eyes and it's not the first time I've heard of this miracle happening.  A preemie baby is literally brought back to life by cuddling naked on his mothers bare breast.

Mum's Miracle Cuddle Brings Baby Back To Life

Kate Ogg gave birth to twins in a hospital in Sydney, Australia.

They were delivered at 27 weeks, weighing just 2lb, and though Mrs Ogg's little girl Emily was healthy, her brother Jamie was not breathing.
After battling to save him for 20 minutes, medical staff told her he had not survived....
"I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him.
"He wasn't moving at all and we just started talking to him.
"We told him what his name was and that he had a sister. We told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life."
After two hours, he began showing signs of life.
"Jamie occasionally gasped for air, which doctors said was a reflex action," Mrs Ogg explained.
"But then I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more and more regularly. I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and started regular breathing normally."
"I thought 'Oh my God, what's going on?' A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle.
"Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger. He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side. The doctor kept shaking his head saying: 'I don't believe it, I don't believe it'."
It is thought that the warmth of Mrs Ogg's body acted like an incubator to keep the baby warm and stimulated....

HERE To read the entire article

The mind boggles when you read stories like this.  A mother instinctively caring for her baby by keeping him skin to skin, even when all hope is lost... and a baby responding to his mothers warmth and touch and voice. Over the years I've read several stories of "Miracle" babies .  Babies who everyone had given up on, who were handed to their mothers to say "Good bye", only to confound the medical professionals by living because of that last cuddle.
Last december there was another miracle story of a tiny micro-preemie weighing a mere 20 oz who's mother also followed her instincts and cuddled her not breathing baby skin to skin. 

Parents Last Good-bye saved their baby

---

Sometimes a preemie doesn’t need to be hooked up to 10 different machines to be given the chance to survive.

Mrs. Isbister remembers saying:

“I didn’t want her to die being cold. So I lifted her out of her blanket and put her against my skin to warm her up. Her feet were so cold.

“It was the only cuddle I was going to have with her, so I wanted to remember the moment.” Then something remarkable happened. The warmth of her mother’s skin kick started Rachael’s heart into beating properly, which allowed her to take little breaths of her own.

“We couldn’t believe it – and neither could the doctors. She let out a tiny cry.”

“The doctors came in and said there was still no hope – but I wasn’t letting go of her. We had her blessed by the hospital chaplain, and waited for her to slip away.

“But she still hung on. And then amazingly the pink colour began to return to her cheeks.”

“She literally was turning from grey to pink before our eyes, and she began to warm up too.”

The sad part is that when the baby was born, doctors took one look at her and said ‘no’.
“They didn’t even try to help her with her breathing as they said it would just prolong her dying. Everyone just gave up on her,” her mom remembered. Ian Laing, a consultant neonatologist at the hospital, said: “All the signs were that the little one was not going to make it and we took the decision to let mum have a cuddle as it was all we could do.
“Two hours later the wee thing was crying. This is indeed a miracle baby and I have seen nothing like it in my 27 years of practice. I have not the slightest doubt that mother’s love saved her daughter.”

Because Rachel had suffered from a lack of oxygen doctors said there was a high risk of damage to her brain. But a scan showed no evidence of any problems.

After just 5 weeks she was taken off the ventilator and four months she was released home.

 HERE to read the entire article


I wrote an article on Kangaroo Care a few months ago, and  researching for the article was truly amazing.

In The Pouch

The Father of modern Kangaroo care is Dr. Nils Bergman. Dr Bergman worked in South Africa, Ciskei and Sweden, before working seven years as Medical Superintendent and District Medical Officer at Manama Mission, Zimbabwe. It was in Zimbabwe that he developed and implemented Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for premature infants right from birth. This resulted in a five-fold improvement in survival of Very Low Birth Weight babies raising the survival rate of these tiny preterm infants from 10% to 50%.

But Kangaroo Care isn't just for preemies. Skin to Skin contact is vitally important for all infants.

"The very best environment for a baby to grow and thrive, is the mother's body," says Dr Nils Bergman, "When placed skin-to-skin on the mother's chest, the baby receives warmth, protection and food, and its brain can develop optimally. Not feeding the baby often enough and leaving it to sleep alone after a feed can result in the baby getting colic", he adds. "The mother's skin is the baby's natural environment, and both physically and emotionally the healthiest place for the baby to be".

Skin to Skin is not just for preemies !!!!  I still enjoy skin to skin time with my youngest son who's now almost 7 months old.  When Kael is upset, overwrought, and thrashing around and crying, I know that the one thing I can do to calm him is to get us skin to skin, chest to chest, heart to heart.  Nothing calms him more than mommy's cuddles!!!

UK study on Kangaroo Care for preemie babies

More and more good news in the world of baby wearing!!  A new study done in Kent UK shows that premature babies gain weight faster and get home sooner with the use of Kangaroo Care to keep the babies close to their mother, skin to skin.

As I wrote back in May 2010, Kangaroo Care is a way of nurturing a baby, to enhance skin-to-skin contact between the baby and the parent. The baby, wearing only a diaper, is held upright against the parent’s bare chest. The term kangaroo care is used because the method is similar to how a baby kangaroo is nurtured by its mother - from the safe environment of the womb to the safe environment of the pouch where further maturation of the baby occurs. Skin-to-skin contact promotes more consistent heart and respiratory rates; it stabilizes oxygen needs; it aids in stabilizing blood sugar levels; it regulates body temperature; and improves weight gain and helps increase breast milk supply. All of which are vital for babies born  too early.

YAY for Baby Wearing!!!!

Babies gain from 'kangaroo' care study at Kent hospital

By Nigel Thompson BBC South East health correspondent

Carianne Hamilton said she jumped at the chance to try the new method

The first minutes and hours after a baby is born are precious - it is the chance for a mother to bond with her child after months of expectation and the pressure of giving birth.

Now midwives in Kent are studying the use of a device which it is claimed can help babies born prematurely to put on weight and develop far quicker than if they were to stay in an incubator.
A simple sling, used to cradle the child as close to the mother's skin as possible, has been tested at the Pembury maternity unit near Tunbridge Wells since November.
About 90 mothers have made use of the sling, which is part of a method called Kangaroo Care, and the progress of their children has been monitored under a study looking at how particularly premature babies develop. The study will conclude next month.
So far the signs are that the scheme is bringing beneficial results.
Humphrey Hamilton was born on 28 December, six weeks before he was due.
His mother Carianne elected to use the sling in those early weeks.
"It was great to feel so close to him," she said.
"When it was offered to me to try I jumped at the chance."
Jean Meadows, a consultant midwife at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said: "Normally we'd expect a child like Humphrey to spend several weeks with us... he went home within days."
It is also claimed that the sling encourages mothers to continue breastfeeding.
"There's been a lot of research elsewhere into Kangaroo Care for premature babies which shows that it can lead to a shorter hospital stay, more successful breastfeeding, less crying and more quiet sleep," consultant midwife Sarah Gregson said.
The hospital has established links with Craftaid, a Fairtrade charity based in Mauritius which makes the slings.
The plan now is that the Maidstone trust will act as a hub for the rest of the NHS and be able to commission more of the slings from the charity.

 

HERE to read the entire article on the BBC

Mom in UK needs Breastmilk and support asap

I read this story yesterday and my heart just broke. This a mom who needs support and help for herself and her little baby- but it looks like the British health authorities are stalling and may actually withhold what her baby desperately needs: Breastmilk.
If you are in the UK and have any means to help, PLEASE do what you can! Because when the governments are asses, then it's up to us moms to step up to the plate and do what WE can to help a fellow mother in need.


Cancer Mum in Baby milk plea

A YOUNG mum who was diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant is appealing against a decision to stop giving donated breast milk to her premature baby.

Dawn Hockey, 28, was 12 weeks pregnant with her second child when she received the devastating news in June this year.

Defying the odds and surviving two bouts of chemotherapy, baby Alex was born on 1 November – seven weeks early – weighing 4lbs 10oz....

..."I had to stop breastfeeding William (her 15 month old son) which was heartbreaking enough and the agreement was that Alex could be on donated breast milk until I could take over when I finish my treatment in April.

"I can’t feed him, not while I’m on chemotherapy.

"He has been exposed to two doses of chemotherapy in the womb, we don’t know what damage that has done to him, and there are things in breast milk that strengthen your immune system, not in formula.

"This is our argument, this is what he needs."

HERE to read the whole news story