Fathers Bond With Babies Using Kangaroo Care: Here’s How?

A new study shows the experiences of fathers’ holding their premature and critically ill babies against their bare chest in a pouch-like position known as kangaroo care.

How dads bond with their premature newborns in a neonatal clinic shows the immense power of skin-to-skin contact between father and infant in the initial weeks of life. This finding is according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

What Are The Benefits Of Kangaroo Care For Newborn Infants?

Kangaroo care mimics the marsupial model where a joey finds warmth and security within the pouch, close to the mother’s heart. This caregiving model is replicated in neonatal wards worldwide, typically with mothers holding their newborns against their bare skin for as long as possible each day to nurture the neurodevelopment of infants and to help bond with them.

Kangaroo care reduces parents’ mental stress caused by premature babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) being separated from their parents.

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‘Kangaroo care provides a variety of benefits for pre-term, low birth weight infants, including lower mortality rates, reduced infections, higher rates of breastfeeding, calmer babies, and enhanced bonding.’

The benefits of mother-infant kangaroo care are globally recognized but there is little data on whether fathers and their infants achieve the same outcomes with this method.

While mothers are considered the dominant KC providers, traditional family structures have changed in recent decades, and fathers have long been overlooked.

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For the first time, University of South Australia researchers examined how dads’ bond with their premature newborns affects their bonding in a neonatal for the initial weeks.

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The fathers who took part in the study reported a “silent language of love and connection” with their infant when they adopted the kangaroo care model.

First-time Adelaide father Joel Mackenzie says he felt an instant connection with his 540-gram daughter Lucy when he held her against his chest two weeks after she was admitted to the NICU.

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This helped her get to know her father better and vice versa. It was good therapy for the fathers too. During Kangaroo Care, the skin-to-skin touch activates nerve receptors in mammals that spark certain hormones, reducing pain and stress for the baby and caregiver.

A child has an innate need to connect with one primary attachment figure which is generally the mother. However, fathers are playing a much larger role as caregivers, including single parents and same-sex parents.

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Paid paternal leave policies are also encouraging fathers to care for their babies and develop a father-infant attachment as early as birth.

Though fathers initially felt anxious and powerless, the close contact with their babies through Kangaroo Care fostered strong bonds with their infants. This in turn relaxed them, built their confidence, and made them very happy.

Source-Medindia