Kangaroo mother care (KMC)

Kangaroo mother care has three main components:

1  Continuous skin-to-skin contact between the baby’s front and the mother’s chest: skin-to-skin contact starts at birth and is continued day and night. There may be brief interruptions such as when the baby is being bathed. The baby wears only a hat or cloth, to keep its head warm, and a nappy/diaper (see Figure A).

2  Exclusive breastfeeding: the baby breastfeeds within one hour after birth and then every two to three hours (see Figure B). The baby is unlikely to be able to suck the breast properly so you will need to support the mother to express milk so that she can also cup feed her baby.

3  Support to the mother: the mother can continue to do what she normally does while providing KMC, for example cook, clean and sleep. However she needs support from you as the health professional, as well as her family and others in the community; by keeping the baby skin-to-skin for short periods while the mother rests or takes care of other duties.