Metabolic Benefits


Temperature Regulation

During Kangaroo care the mother and child demonstrate "thermal synchrony" and the infants are kept within their thermal neutral zone (Goldson 1999, Ludington-Hoe et al. 2000). Without Kangaroo Care, most preterm infants must be kept in incubators because they cannot regulate their own body temperature. During thermal synchrony, if the infants temperature increases or decreases, the mother's body temperature changes to compensate for the infants temperature (Goldson 1999). . The range of maternal breast temperatures in the study represented by the table below went from 30.44 to 36.75°C . Maternal breast temperatures initially rose until the infants reached an abdominal temperature of 36.8 °C and then varied by less than .3°C (Ludington-Hoe et al. 2000). As you can see in the table below, the infants are kept in their thermal neutral zone and their toe temperatures are significantly warmer during Kangaroo Care and after KC than incubated infants .

Results of Group Means for Abdominal, Toe, Incubator, and Maternal Temperature for Each Period

    Abdominal Temperature     Toe Temp.     Incubator Temp.   Breast Temp.
  Pre KC KC Post KC Pre KC KC Post KC Pre KC KC Post KC
Kangaroo Care
x 36.69 36.9 36.65 34.17 35.08 34.16 32.07 31.70 34.16
SD 0.38 0.31 0.34 1.51 1.74 1.76 1.67 1.84 1.51
F+   1.16   7.4   9.75
P+   0.29   0.01   0.005
Control          
x 36.73 36.67 36.72 33.35 33.65 33.75 32.15 31.87 31.44
SD 0.27 0.41 0.35 1.52 1.54 1.62 1.73 1.41 1.63
F+   2.67   1.66   5.55  
P+   0.08   0.20   0.01  
F* (* = whole group)   1.16   4.77   6.69  
P*   0.29   0.04   0.004  

Adapted from Ludington-Hoe et al. 2000

Feeding

As shown below, Wahlberg, Affonso, & Persson showed that more kangaroo care infants breastfeed at discharge and Bier et al. showed that more kangaroo care infants continue breastfeeding at discharge than control infants (Ludington-Hoe and Swinth 1996). Breastfeeding is important because it represents the development of sucking, which is sometimes not present at birth for premature infants. Breastfeeding also is important because it is a consoling behavior for the infant, which leads to relaxation (Ludington-Hoe and Swinth 1996). In addition, stimulation of the infants sensory nerves in the oral mucosa may lead to a vagaly mediated hormone release in the gut, which could aid in nutrient absorbtion and lead to faster weight gain (Goldson 1999).

Both figures adapted from (Ludington-Hoe and Swinth 1996)

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