Kangaroo care: How holding premature babies skin-to-skin can boost their development

Premature babies held skin-to-skin by their parents put on weight faster, spend less time on breathing support, and have more stable vital signs than those who do not get this close contact

Courtney Long and Eoin O’Connor, with their son Alfie

For three weeks, Alfie, born prematurely at less than 25 weeks gestation, lay in the incubator too unwell even to be held by his parents.

Staff at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Cork University Maternity Hospital had been telling Alfie’s parents, Courtney Long and Eoin O’Connor, about kangaroo care and its benefits. The practice involves holding a nappy-clad infant upright, skin-to-skin on his mother’s bare chest, and is inspired by the way kangaroo mothers carry and care for their joeys.