Kangaroo care therapy: Abandoned newborn getting 24x7 ‘motherly touch’
His parents abandoned him for some reason and left him in a train. But life had something else in store for this pre-term underweight newborn. A Good Samaritan found him in the train and approached the police. And now, the child is getting motherly love 24x7!
The infant is undergoing skinto-skin therapy at Veerangana Avanti Bai government hospital’s Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) ward. And even while the therapy is supposed to be given by the real mother, volunteers are taking turns to act his mother.
“The baby weighed 1,300 grams when he was brought here in the last week of March. Now he weighs over 1,600 grams,” said Arti Kumar, of community empowerment lab that has helped set up the unit at the government hospital after a long research on pre-term babies.
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a special therapy that involves continuous skin-to-skin contact between the mother and baby and provides the newborn its basic needs to survive and thrive – love, warmth, food and protection, said Arti. The baby was brought to the hospital by volunteers of Childline. When KMC was recommended for the baby, the question arose who would volunteer for it. “Initially, the volunteers of Childline tried to do it, but they couldn’t be there round the clock. The baby required 24x7 therapy for growth,” said Arti.
Currently, young rural girls called ‘agrimas’ who are working as volunteers at the KMC units are taking turns to give KMC to the baby. ‘Agrima’ volunteers, most of them unmarried (in their early 20s), have decided to dedicate two years of their life to neonatal care. They promptly responded to the women and child welfare department’s request and volunteered to provide continuous KMC to the baby.
Among those giving therapy to the abandoned baby include a 21-year old, who herself was poisoned and abandoned by her in-laws, and who chose the path of selfless service, instead of being a victim. Some other ‘Agrimas’ who are providing KMC to this baby are unmarried, and are defying tradition to provide love and warmth that this baby needs to survive.
Dr Salman Khan, consultant (pediatrics) at the Avantibai hospital said,”The baby has shown tremendous improvement. KMC has resulted in weight gain (about 250 grams) for the baby. We are waiting for him to be 1800 grams before we discharge him from the hospital.”