A baby in a neonatal intensive care unit is held by its mother Jill Lehmann/Getty Images
Premature or low-birth-weight babies who are clinically unstable should have skin-to-skin contact, known as kangaroo care, before incubation, .
鈥淭he guidelines apply to all babies except those that need mechanical ventilation,鈥 says at the Vardhman Mahavir Medical College in India.
Around 15 to 20 per cent of newborns globally are premature聽鈥 born before 37聽weeks聽鈥 or have聽a聽low birth weight, below 2.5聽kilograms, which can make them clinically unstable. This is聽partly defined as needing intravenous fluids or having an unhealthy breathing or heart rate.
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Since 2015, the WHO had recommended that such babies were incubated until they became clinically stable and only then receive kangaroo care. This was based on research that examined the care of newborns in hospital, with the results suggesting that聽having kangaroo care post-incubation cuts the risk of death by 40 per cent compared with聽incubation alone.
gave birth in hospitals in five聽African or Asian countries.
Chellani and his colleagues compared babies who received immediate, prolonged kangaroo care before incubation with those who had limited skin-to-skin contact after incubation.
The babies who had immediate kangaroo care that continued for about 17 hours a day until they were discharged were 25 per cent less likely to die within one month than those who were incubated first.
This 25 per cent drop occurred on top of the previously mentioned 40 per cent fall. Outside this 17-hour window, the babies were in an incubator.
Kangaroo care may boost a baby鈥檚 immunity and lower stress.
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