Boy cuddles his sibling 'skin to skin'
A photograph of a little boy giving his premature baby sibling skin to skin care has gone viral. The image shows the youngster and his father each holding one of a pair of new-born twin babies on their bare stomachs, carrying out skin to skin practice – also known as ‘kangaroo care’ – which is said to aid recovery.
Click here to view the great photo, and read the entire article.
The endearing image, taken in Denmark, in which the little boy emulates his father carry out the practice for his twin siblings by holding one of them on his bare stomach, has been shared more than 20,000 times on Facebook and garnered 29,000 likes. It was posted by NINO Birth, an organisation based in South Africa that offers basic information on “what birth should look like”, and promotes skin to skin contact after a baby is born. The practice consists of very small premature babies being taken out of the incubator to be skin to skin with their parents.
On the caption accompanying the photograph, NINO Birth wrote: “The parent’s chest regulates the temperature better than an incubator. Skin to skin contact helps the baby to breathe better. The child becomes more calm and gains weight faster.”
NB. If you have a very young or sick baby, do ask your nurse if you baby is ready for kangaroo cuddles yet.
The benefits of Kangaroo cuddles are so great and The Little Miracles Trust has played a part in providing maternity chairs in a number of NICUs across New Zealand. We’ve got some more coming right at this moment!
Examples of this support and other ways we help neonatal families can be viewed here. If you wanted to help us provide more support like this, we’d you can donate here.
More information, links to articles and a great video on Kangaroo cuddles can be seen here.
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- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
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