Building Parenting Skills and Interactions with

Kangaroo Care

Sharon A. Wilkerson, PhD, RNAssociate Professor of Nursing

Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN

Education of Staff

Developmental Care

Parent Needs

Infant Cues in the Premature Infant

Parental Experience in the NICU

Staff education of familyCare of the InfantSpecial NeedsInfant Cues

Skin to Skin Contact

Subjects

15 First time mothers

10 Participated in Kangaroo Care 5 Did not participate in Kangaroo Care

Subjects

Mothers average age 23.7range 19.1 to 34.5

Infant average age 30.3 weeksrange 28 to 32 weeks

Stabile without serious medical conditions

Data Collected

Home visits 4 weeks post discharge

Sleep-Wake Diary Descriptive questions

Parent Description of Baby Temperament

NCAST Feeding Scale

Parent Description of Baby Temperament

ActivityRhythmicityAdaptabilityMoodApproach

NCAST Feeding Scale

MotherSensitive to cuesResponse to distressProvide growth fostering situations

InfantClarity of cuesResponsiveness to parent

Findings

Sleep-Wake Diary Short sleep cycles – night waking

Findings

Parent Description of Baby Temperament

More positive reaction if parents had contact with infant in NICU

Too many items not yet experienced by parents

FindingsNCAST Feeding Scale

MotherSensitive to cuesResponse to distressProvide growth fostering situations

Infant Clarity of cues Responsiveness to parent

Findings

Descriptive:

Mothers with contact in NICU reported more confidence in care of baby at home.Fewer feeding difficultiesMore positive attitude overall

CONCLUSIONS

Skin to skin contact beneficial to attachment and parent – infant interactionsParents benefit from staff teaching and it needs to be planned as a regular part of the care providedNeed to facilitate parents visiting the NICU