Abstract
Background
Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is recommended as a beneficial intervention to promote the wellbeing of preterm infants. This study evaluated the effect of KMC on anthropometric indexes in preterm newborns, with and without telephone advice (TA).
Methods
At a tertiary center, in a single-blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT), one hundred and five discharged preterm infants from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were randomly allocated into two experimental groups: KMC, KMC with telephone advice (KMC-TA), and conventional care (CC) (35 birthing parent-infant pairs in each group). In two experimental groups, a research assistant trained participants on how to do KMC at home for a maximum of three times, at least 3–4 h daily, during a one-month period. In the KMC-TA group, participants were counseled on KMC by phone, twice a week. In CC group, routine care was provided. Prior to, and at the end of the intervention, anthropometric indexes including the weight, height, head and chest circumferences of neonates were measured in the three groups. The ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, and Bonferroni was used to analyse the data.
Results
After one month, the mean weight of neonates was significantly greater in the two experimental groups when compared to those the CC group (p = 0.006). No significant differences were observed in other anthropometric indexes.
Conclusions
Short–term implementation of KMC has a positive effect on preterm infant weight gain. Optimal implementation strategies for KMC are required, and future research may usefully inform these.
Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is recommended as a beneficial intervention to promote the wellbeing of preterm infants. This study evaluated the effect of KMC on anthropometric indexes in preterm newborns, with and without telephone advice (TA).
Methods
At a tertiary center, in a single-blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT), one hundred and five discharged preterm infants from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were randomly allocated into two experimental groups: KMC, KMC with telephone advice (KMC-TA), and conventional care (CC) (35 birthing parent-infant pairs in each group). In two experimental groups, a research assistant trained participants on how to do KMC at home for a maximum of three times, at least 3–4 h daily, during a one-month period. In the KMC-TA group, participants were counseled on KMC by phone, twice a week. In CC group, routine care was provided. Prior to, and at the end of the intervention, anthropometric indexes including the weight, height, head and chest circumferences of neonates were measured in the three groups. The ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, and Bonferroni was used to analyse the data.
Results
After one month, the mean weight of neonates was significantly greater in the two experimental groups when compared to those the CC group (p = 0.006). No significant differences were observed in other anthropometric indexes.
Conclusions
Short–term implementation of KMC has a positive effect on preterm infant weight gain. Optimal implementation strategies for KMC are required, and future research may usefully inform these.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 221 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | BMC Pediatrics |
| Volume | 25 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.Funding
The study was supported by the TUMS
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Not added |
Keywords
- Anthropometric Indexes
- Anthropometry
- Counseling
- Female
- Humans
- Infant, Newborn
- Infant, Premature
- Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
- Kangaroo Mother Care
- Kangaroo-Mother Care Method
- Male
- Patient Discharge
- Single-Blind Method
- Telephone
- Telephone Advice
- preterm infant