Kangaroo Care and Preemies

Kangaroo care for premature infants has become a common practice in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units around the world.  This type of parent/child bonding involves placing a child on their parent's chest.  The skin-to-skin contact has been shown to regulate baby's body temperature, heart rate and respiration.  According to the March of Dimes, "Kangaroo care helps maintain body warmth, regulate heart and breathing rates, gain weight, spend more time in deep sleep, spend more time being quiet and alert, and less time crying, and better milk production for the mother" (March of Dimes, 2012).

"Kangaroo care was started in 1979, in Bogota, Colombia.  There had been a large number of deaths in preterm babies, and there was lack of appropriate equipment for these infants.  The doctors found that by placing the child on the parents' skin, the infant would excel.  By 1983, UNICEF was recommending the practice be used throughout the world.  By the late 1980s research was proving the benefits of skin-to-skin contact for young infants" (Kangaroo Mother Care, 2012).

Above is a picture of my daughter and I using this bonding technique when she was just 3 days old.  I believe that touch and bonding helped her to be excel in the NICU, and in turn being released at just 4 weeks old.

Resources

Kangaroo Mother Care. (2012).  Where kangaroo mother care started.   Retrieved from http://www.kangaroomothercare.com/beginning-KMC.aspx

March of Dimes. (2012).  Holding your baby close: Kangaroo care.  Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/inthenicu_kangaroocare.html

Personal Research Journey

Since I have been in the field of early childhood education for the past 15 years, I have gathered a vast amount of knowledge.  However, my research project for this course will be the long-term effects of prematurity on the education of young children.

My daughter was born at 31 weeks 1 day.  She weighed just 2 lbs. 12 oz. at birth.  During the first year of life many people told me not to expect a lot out of her.  They stated that she'd hit milestones later than most children.  I was scared.  I had been in the field for over 10 years, and I thought I knew everything about the development of young children.  Much to my surprise, I didn't know as much as I had thought.  So, I began researching everything I possibly could about raising a preemie.  I wanted to gather as much information as possible to ensure she had the best start to life. 

My daughter was not behind on her milestones.  She was happy, healthy, and is now a fantastic 3 1/2 year old girl.  She began to speak in sentences before her first birthday.  She walked when she was "supposed" to, and learns very quickly.  Without gloating over the intelligence of my child, I wanted to do research on how the effects of prematurity effect young children's education.  Is a parent's involvement and encouragement enough to help a child succeed?  Or is it innate that certain children are just better equipped to succeed regardless of their gestational age at birth?  Below, I have included a few pictures of my daughter.