SARASOTA, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – Monday is Kangaroo Care Awareness Day. Kangaroo care is a term used in hospitals that means hands-on care between parents and their newborns. Monday was especially meaningful for a pair of Palmetto parents who just gave birth to premature twins.
“We’ve been back here for over five weeks. Every day, you know, they come and see. They’re doing well. They’re healthy, they’re growing. Very emotional “Of course, as you can see. It was very hard going home and not having your kids with you,” explain Katie and Stephen, new parents to twins. Both got the news of their lives when they found out they were having twins. But excitement turned to worry when newborns Hunter and Hadley were born early at 28 weeks.
Preterm birth is common in twins. It is estimated that half of all twins are born early, but survival rates are lower for babies born after 28 weeks of gestation. In this case, more care is required afterwards and this has a number of advantages.
“Basically what you do is you take them, they just have their diaper on and then they go to your chest. So, they’re skin-to-skin,” Katie explained of Kangaroo care.
“Regulate baby’s heart rate, breathing rate, temperature stability, it increases maternal milk production,” said Heather Graber RN, clinical manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. It also reduces the risk of mortality in newborns. Graber says this is especially important for premature babies or babies in the NICU. “Because what we’ve found over the many years of doing this is that it shortens the length of stay.”
“I’ve noticed that when we hold them, they breathe better, their heart beats better and their oxygen levels stay pretty consistent,” Katie said. “And then it’s so funny because you put them right back in and it’s like you go right down it. So they know.”
“We encourage the fathers as much as the mothers to do it because the baby knows the father’s smell and touch,” Graber said.
“Obviously, most full-term babies get that time right away,” Stephen said. “And so, you know, with us, that delay of just a week was a tough experience.”
