Safety of Kangaroo Mother Care in intubated neonates under 1500 g

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) has been used as a technique to promote mother-child bonding. It has been discussed of its use for preterm under mechanical ventilation. The objective of this study is to assess the vital signs of preterm infants with a birth weight lower than 1500 g who are under intubation and hemodynamically stable in KMC. Forty-three preterm infants with a mean gestational age at birth of 29.1 ± 1.6 weeks and a mean birth weight of 1.1334 ± 2318 g. The preterm infants were longitudinally assessed for 90 min (15 min before, 60 min in KMC and 15 min after). These periods were compared, and the dependent variables heart rate, oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), axilary temperature and mean arterial blood pressure were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Clinically, however, the results were not significantly different. The results show that KMC is a safe method under the study conditions presented here.