Here at Bugando Medical Centre, a practice call “kangaroo care” to help premature babies survive and thrive is being used. Kangaroo care is a term for skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the baby. The baby is held between the mother’s breasts in an effort to comfort and bond. Once the baby is stable, the kangaroo care provides a prophylaxis against apnoeas and bradycardias. Kangaroo care is even possible when the baby needs intravenous infusions and monitoring or other mechanical aids.

Statistics indicate that premature infants improve faster from kangaroo care and may thrive better than being in isolettes, connected to machines and isolated from the mother.

According to Dr. Christian Schmidt, a pediatrician at BMC, “in the industrialized countries, there is so much high tech equipment to treat premature, low birth-weigh babies. In emerging nations, this equipment is not readily available. Kangaroo care originated in South America after two physicians discovered that this natural method had many benefits. Kangaroo Care is being used at BMC and at many hospitals to help premature and at risk babies have a better chance of survival.”


In holding her baby, the mother’s physiological and psychological warmth are beneficial to the infant. Typically, the baby wears only a diaper and is tied in a head-up position to the mother’s (or father’s) bare chest. When the baby is cold, the mother’s skin warms the baby. There are many other advantages of the kangaroo care for premature infants. They can maintain a normal temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. Typically the baby gains weight more quickly resulting in a shorter hospital stay.

Sometimes nature provides the best solution to a difficult situation.
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