@article{Jahan_Hoque_Chowdhury_2021, title={Effects of Intermittent Kangaroo Mother Care in Preterm Low Birth Weight Babies: A Randomized Controlled Trial}, volume={36}, url={https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/DSHJ/article/view/54388}, DOI={10.3329/dshj.v36i2.54388}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Background</strong>: Prematurity is the largest cause of neonatal mortality. They need incubators or radiant warmers which are expensive and very difficult to arrange in a resource constraint country. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) had been proposed as an alternative to conventional neonatal care for low birthweight (LBW) babies.</p> <p><strong>Objectives</strong>: To observe the benefits of Kangaroo mother care in preterm low birth weight babies.</p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: This randomized controlled trial was conducted over 6 months in Dhaka Shishu Hospital. Neonates who were <1800 gm and hemodynamically stable were enrolled. Total 80 neonates were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: Kangaroo mother care group and conventional method care group (incubator/warmer). The mother or caregiver were taught for KMC, supervised by trained nurses round the clock. KMC was given at least 2 hours at a time and at least 12 hours in a day. When the baby was not in KMC at that time the baby was placed in cot with adequate coverings. During hospital stay both the groups were monitored.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: In KMC group 25% and conventional care group 40% neonates became hypothermic. Among the study population 35% neonates in KMC and 65% neonates in conventional care groups developed sepsis (p= 0.007). More KMC babies were exclusively breastfed at the end of the study (95% vs 60%). The KMC babies had shown better growth: weight gain per day (18.35±7.81 grams vs 13.55±4.89 p<0.001) and length (0.99±0.70 vs 0.71±0.44 cm, p = 0.03). KMC babies were discharged earlier than conventional care baby.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: KMC provides significant improvement in exclusive breast feeding, reduction of infection, decrease hospital stay and gaining weight of the babies. It also helps in maintaining temperature better than conventional care.</p> <p>DS (Child) H J 2020; 36(2): 107-113</p>}, number={2}, journal={Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital Journal}, author={Jahan, Nishat and Hoque, Md Mahbubul and Chowdhury, MAK Azad}, year={2021}, month={Jun.}, pages={107–113} }