Lactation Assistance Services

Kangaroo Mother Care — it’s all about keeping mothers and newborns together so that babies can thrive. Here’s a handout by one of the original KMC advocates, Dr. Nils Bergman. I’m posting it here with his permission. Print it out, share it with care providers, friends, and family. Good stuff.

Kangaroo Mother Care Handout

In Madison women have the right to breastfeed their babies in public:

“No person shall interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child or expressing breastmilk within any public accommodation where the mother would otherwise be authorized to be.” (Dane County (34.015) and Madison City (23.37) Ordinances)

Some practical tips and the right attitude makes it easier, though. Check this out:

Babies need their mothers. Breastfeeding is easiest when babies and mothers are together. But in Madison lots of mothers need and want to return to paid work just a few weeks after their babies are born. Better maternity leave (like most other industrialized countries have!) would be one way to solve this. Another possible solution would be to let mothers do what they’ve been doing for thousands of years: keep babies close while they work.

For information on how this could really work check out Carla Moquin’s website, Babies in the Workplace, and her blog, Working With Kids. She talks about productivity, getting along with co-workers, colicky babies, and more.

One of the Madison La Leche League Leaders, Jeannie Manthe (thanks, Jeannie!), told me about this video. It shows a mother working with her baby, following her baby’s lead to get a good latch. Like the BreastCrawl video, it shows how skilled babies are but this video also shows how mothers can help their babies. Babies have a strong instinct to breastfeed and mothers also have a strong instinct to help them. So check out this Latch Video. As a note, the mother in this video is sitting upright, like most mothers that we see breastfeeding in the USA. However recent research (by Dr. Suzanne Colson, news story) has shown that babies may be better at latch and attachment when their mother is lying down. As you can see, we still don’t know everything about how breastfeeding works but we keep learning by watching mothers and babies.

Kangaroo mother care (KMC) isn’t just for marsupials! It is a way of caring for newborn babies that is increasingly supported by research for both full-term and premature babies.

When my nephew was born (at full term) he had a hard time maintaining his body temperature. His parents were worried that he would have to stay in the hospital longer than they had planned. They were lucky to have a doula that had heard of KMC. With her encouragement, they decided to try it. He stabilized, nursed well, and came home that day.

KMC consists of three things:

1. The baby is positioned upright, skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest.
2. Exclusive breastfeeding.
3. No or minimal separation of mother and baby — any needed care is done with mother and baby remaining in contact.

Studies have found that KMC has many benefits including

• increased rates of breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, and breastfeeding duration
• more positive feelings of mothers towards their babies
• babies have more stable heart rates, better oxygenation, better body temperature stability, and fewer signs of stress
• mothers can pump more milk even if baby can’t breastfeed yet
• mothers feel like they have an important role in taking care of their babies

When babies can stay in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers they feel more secure. KMC is an easy way for parents to help their babies adapt to life after birth.

To read more about KMC, you can visit www.kangaroomothercare.com.

This is a Ruth with some of her grand kids. Grandmothers can be an important part of successful breastfeeding. They can offer emotional support, help take care of the household, and watch any older children. We welcome grandmothers at our breastfeeding classes. We also answer grandmothers questions (so call us).