Kangaroo motherhood method program: neonatal care of low birthweight newborns in the Isidro Ayora Maternity Quito Ecuador. Final report.

In Quito Ecuador health workers at the Isidro Ayora Maternity Hospital randomly assigned 321 newborns weighing less than 2 kg at birth (low birth weight [LBW]) to the Kangaroo Mother method of infant care or the traditional method. They wanted to compare the effects of the Kangaroo Mother method on neonatal and postneonatal health and nutritional status and its relative costs with the traditional method. For the Kangaroo method the mothers held the newborns in an upright position as close to the breast as possible to keep the newborn warm. The baby was held inside the blouse. Kangaroo newborns tended to be boys and to have less respiratory difficulty generalized infections and other illnesses. The control group had significantly more mothers married or living with the father and more families with electricity and radios than the Kangaroo group. Control newborns had more post-eligibility pre-discharge morbidity than Kangaroo newborns. The Kangaroo group suffered less mild illnesses in the first few months and less serious illnesses (e.g. respiratory infection) between 3 and 6 months. Kangaroo babies experienced better growth than control groups. Control babies had higher rehospitalization rates than Kangaroo babies. Since the Kangaroo method required more instruction before discharge the Kangaroo newborns were discharged later than the control newborns. Kangaroo mothers used health care services more often than control mothers. The Kangaroo group experienced better maternal-infant bonding than the control group. Based on the findings the researchers learned that the Kangaroo method is a 5-point method of ambulatory care of LBW infants: breast feeding love heat preventive health care utilization and maternal education/training. The Kangaroo method costs less than the traditional method even though Kangaroo babies were discharged later and made more frequent clinic visits than traditional babies.