[Kangaroo method and care]

The kangaroo-mother method was initiated by colombian pediatricians in 1979. The method is based on a permanent skin to skin contact of low birth weight infants with their mother. It has spread out in many developing countries as an alternative cheap method for the care of low birth weight infants with several advantages: temperature regulation, prolonged breast-feeding, promotion of mother-infant interaction, decreased mortality. The kangaroo method has been adapted in European countries as kangaroo care that consists in daily mother-infant skin to skin contact during few hours. Introducing the incubator in the mother's room is an other derivative of the method which allows prolonged early contact of the mother with her infant. A major interest of these methods is that they favour parent-infant interaction; however this requires qualified and devoted staffs.