Overcoming the barriers to using kangaroo care in neonatal settings
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Overcoming the barriers to using kangaroo care in neonatal settings

Sarah Penn Staff nurse, Special care baby unit, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle

Sarah Penn describes how skin-to-skin contact improves clinical outcomes, breastfeeding rates and mortality, and strengthens the parent-child bond

Skin-to-skin contact, or kangaroo care (KC), has benefits for babies and parents, improving clinical outcomes, temperature control, breastfeeding rates and child-parent bonding; it reduces morbidity and mortality. Barriers to KC for neonates may include a lack of training for nurses, lack of time, maternal or child physical or mental ill health, and inappropriate settings. With education and helpful management, neonatal nurses can advocate for KC for all babies. Parents may need information and encouragement to begin with. Therefore, nurses can improve the experiences of their patients and, in the long run, free time to perform clinical procedures.

Nursing Children and Young People. 27, 5, 22-27. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.27.5.22.e596

Correspondence

sarah.penn@ncuh.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and checked using antiplagiarism software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 16 November 2014

Accepted: 01 April 2015

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