Survival of Premature Babies with the Revolutionary Kangaroo Mother Care Technique at a Tertiary Care Center, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a resource-limited method for low-birth-weight babies that seeks to mitigate mortality rates by thermoregulation, breastfeeding assistance, and early hospital discharge. Methods: This study was carried out at GIMS hospital Khairpur Kangaroo Mother Care Unit at PAQSJIMS between August 2019 to September 2020. A total of hundred mothers and their infants were enrolled in the study. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was employed. A Questionnaire filled with the permission of admitted mother and primary data collected as per proforma i.e. date of admission, mother name, address, age, parity, gravida, date of delivery, place of delivery, Type of delivery, gestation at birth (weeks), birth weight, gender, Date of KMS admission, weight at KMC, discharge date of KMC, weight of Discharge KMC, status at the time of discharge and cause of death (if any). All mothers used KMC kits and the infant weight at admission and discharge were documented. Results: The average age (Figure 1) of mothers was recorded as 31.69 (20-40 years). The babies weight at the time of KMC unit admission was recorded as 0.7 – 1.8 grams and after 3-4 weeks admission the babies survived and gained weight recorded at time of discharge was 0.8 to 2.2 grams which showed that all mothers used kits properly, and all babies survived. Conclusions: All mothers were pleased to operate KMC kits. KMC is a very innovative technique to save the lives of premature newborns. This therapy emphasizes mothers for continuous skin-to-skin touch with infants, as well as wrapping the child in a warm blanket. The availability of space facilities and capacity building for health workers are therefore the fundamental requirements that must be funded by international aid agencies in order to scale up the initiative in these environments. Keywords: Neonatal survival, KMC, care, breastfeeding.