Preterm birth complications cause about 27% of newborn deaths and between 60-90% of newborn deaths occurs in low birth weight (LBW) babies, making LBW a major contributor to neonatal mortality. Preterm babies have an increased risk of hypothermia and experience difficulty in breastfeeding. First introduced in 1978, the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) method for caring for preterm babies has been shown to effectively prevent and treat hypothermia. KMC has also been shown to increase the frequency of breastfeeding and intake of breast milk.   A LBW baby is strapped skin-to-skin to the mother’s chest, wearing only a diaper and warm hat or cap. This promotes warmth and regulates the baby’s temperature, and encourages weight gain and uptake and duration of breastfeeding, and reduces infection.

KMC is an easy and inexpensive intervention that effectively uses skin-to-skin contact to improve very small newborns’ chances of survival. Because of this, KMC can effectively be applied and replicated in home, community and hospital settings.