Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): KMC (Kangaroo Mother Care) helped save the life of triplets from a village in the Rajgarh district of the state, who were born prematurely and were grossly underweight at birth recently. KMC is a special method of care for low birth weight (less than 2.5 kg)) babies. As the name suggests KMC consists of keeping the baby in close skin-to-skin contact as practised by female kangaroos for their babies.
Iklesh, 23, of Dhaniyakhedi village in Rajgarh district of the state gave birth to triplet babies at 33 weeks gestational age. The babies were born with a weight of 1.54 kg (Female), 1.37 kg (Female) and 1.87 kg (Male) respectively. Upon receiving the babies in SNCU Shajapur, all of them were kept under radiant warmers with maintenance of strict asepsis. They were started on Oxygen support from Day 1, loaded with IV Caffeine for apneic episodes
After explaining the benefits of KMC (Kangaroo Mother Care) to all the family members, they were very supportive and KMC was provided by all family members to the babies (including mother, dadi and nani). All three babies were weaned off oxygen support by the 3rd day of life. None of the babies were given antibiotics.
Sepsis screen was negative in all 3 babies. They were started on tube feeds, gradually increased over time. The 3rd and 1st babies were shifted one by one to step-down units, followed by mother-ward when they started breastfeeding. The 2nd baby was kept for a little longer time, gradually gaining weight over time and accepting spoon feeds. The babies were discharged with a weight of 1.83, 1.48 and 2.12 kg, respectively. This story demonstrates the positive effect that KMC can have on our preterm newborns.
