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This descriptive study on kangaroo mother care (KMC) of low-birthweight infants (LBWIs) was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in Recife, Brazil. Of 244 LBWIs weighing less than 1750 g admitted over 14 months, 112 (46%) died before inclusion, 18 (7%) were excluded, and 114 (47%), after stabilization, were cared for by KMC 24 hours a day until discharge. No deaths were recorded in hospital; two twins died of severe pneumonia after discharge and before the age of 3 months. There were no episodes of moderate or severe hypothermia but mild hypothermia (36-36. 4 degrees C axillary temperature) occurred at a rate of 30 episodes per 100 infant days, mainly related to occasional separation from the mother. One hundred infants (88%) were discharged on exclusive breastfeeding, eight (7%) were still taking expressed breast-milk from a cup and six (5%) were being fed breast-milk plus formula. The mean daily weight gain during KMC was 15 g. At follow-up, 87% were still exclusively breastfed at 1 month and 63% at 3 months. KMC was acceptable to mothers and staff. An important advantage of KMC over previous conventional care is cost--US20 vs US66 per bed/day. This study confirms that KMC for stabilized LBWIs in hospital is feasible, acceptable and cheap and in hospitals with limited resources is an appropriate alternative to conventional incubator care.
Lima et al. (Wed,) studied this question.