The zeal to ensure the survival of pre-term babies is what embodies the saying that necessity is the mother of invention.
For 29-year old Terry Wesonga, she credits the survival and thriving of her child now one year old to Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) which is steadily gaining traction in the country.
“Jonah is my second born and I delivered him at just 29 weeks,” she says. “He weighed just 1.3kgs which was worrisome; he was so tiny but everything changed when I was taken through Kangaroo Mother care.”
Terry notes that after being taught about KMC, her baby started gaining weight and was out of the hospital after 12 days. She continued with this even after she was discharged.
Kangaroo care is a method of holding a baby that involves skin-to-skin contact with the mother or the father. The infant is placed in an upright position against a parent’s bare chest with just his diapers and a piece of cloth (blanket or shawl) covering his/her back.
Going by research, Kangarooing has the same effect as when the infant is in the incubator. The infant snuggles into the mother’s breast while in the pouch and quickly falls asleep.
According to Cleveland Clinic, this assists in regulation of body temperature while helping the baby conserve energy and redirects calorie expenditures toward growth and weight gain.
KMC also helps in stabilizing the infant’s respiratory and heart rate as well as brain development.
The trend is now widely acceptable as men take up this noble role.
Mark Kibabii is a man of a kind after he made a decision to Kangaroo his daughter Martha Kibabii who is now two years old.
“My wife delivered prematurely and at the time I was stationed in Western Kenya. I had seen KMC initiative between government and NGOs so I told my wife that I would help her Kangaroo our daughter at one of the public hospitals in Kakamega” he said during an interview with Jamhuri News.
“After a few days we noted positive change in her weight and other things. The longer we Kangarooed her there was better response. Within a week and a few days, we were discharged and she technically got out of the woods and thrived to a now beautiful two-year old princess.”
Dr. John Kariuki says the key factor in KMC is providing the right temperature to the babies for 24 hours meaning the baby has to be in the mother’s pouch all along.
He adds that with this, incubators in hospitals which have embraced KMC are not used as often as they would be used. He also notes that KMC is safe for the infants because they are under a “natural environment” compared to incubators where they at times risk getting cross infections if they are several of them hurdled together.
With acceptability of KMC, mortality rates have gone down drastically.