A time-motion analysis of the mothers staying in the neonatal care unit

In addition to various barriers studied for kangaroo mother care (KMC), time opportunities for better implementation of KMC need to be studied.

Time-motion analysis of the mother's daily activities was carried out to identify scope to improve KMC.

This is a 24-h recall-based questionnaire study. Mothers were interviewed whose newborns were admitted at a tertiary and secondary care neonatal care unit of western India over a period of 9 months from November 2015 to July 2016.

Mothers were approached when the preterm neonate and mother dyad was eligible for KMC, that is, when mothers were physically healthy and newborns were physiologically stable. A total of 60 mothers were enrolled in the study. Mothers' daily activities were noted, and time spent in each activity was charted for 3 consecutive days. Missed time opportunities which could be used to increase daily KMC hours were studied.

To compare quantitative variables, two-sample unpaired t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used.

The average time of activities which consumed most was 8.24 h for sleep/rest, 3.46 h for meals/snacks, 4.89 h for breastfeeding, and a daily average of only 1.4 h was used for KMC. A quite a significant proportion, that is, 3.89 h, was spent for meeting relatives which could be used for KMC as well without affecting social meetings.

Time-motion analysis was helpful to find out weak links in KMC implementation. Providing family-centered environment in terms of implementing KMC during meeting hours with family may augment KMC hours.