Kangaroo mother care
Método madre canguro
- Date
- 1978 · confidence high
- Place
- Maternal and Child Institute, Bogotá, Colombia
- Credited to
- Edgar Rey Sanabria and Héctor Martínez Gómez
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Care of the premature baby through continuous skin-to-skin contact on the mother's chest, breastfeeding and early discharge. It arose from a shortage of incubators and reduced mortality and infections.
The method was formalised in 1978 in Bogotá; similar skin-to-skin practices existed elsewhere, but the full clinical protocol is Colombian.
What it led to
- Reduced neonatal mortality in low-income countries
- WHO recommendation for low-birthweight newborns
- Humanisation of neonatology