Skin-to-Skin (Kangaroo Mother Care): A Step-by-Step Guide for New Parents

Skin-to-skin care—also known as Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC)—is a simple, powerful way to bond with your baby, especially if your little one is premature or has a low birth weight. This method supports breastfeeding, helps your baby stay warm, and is a key part of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

What Is Skin-to-Skin Care

Skin-to-skin is direct contact between a baby and a parent (mother or father). The baby—wearing only a diaper, hat, and socks—is held upright on the parent’s bare chest. It can start within the first hour after birth if both parent and baby are medically stable. Breastfeeding is encouraged as part of skin-to-skin care.

Benefits for Parents and Infants

• Builds a strong emotional bond and gives parents a sense of confidence and satisfaction.

• Stimulates hormones that improve breast milk production.

• Regulates the baby’s heartbeat and maintains normal body temperature.

• Helps the baby breathe more easily and keeps oxygen levels stable.

• Reduces stress, crying, and colic; promotes weight gain in premature infants.

• Increases protective factors in breast milk, especially important for premature babies.

• Helps babies receiving expressed breast milk through a feeding tube associate feeding with the mother’s breast, making future breastfeeding easier.

When to Start Skin-to-Skin Care

Skin-to-skin can begin when your baby:

• Weighs more than 800 grams.

• Needs less than 50% oxygen.

• Has had a stable body temperature for the previous 24 hours.

• Has stable breathing, even if using a nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) machine.

Skin-to-skin can continue even if the baby has intravenous lines or is receiving tube feedings.

Not suitable: if the baby is unstable or cannot tolerate handling; wait until the baby’s condition improves.

Who Can Provide Skin-to-Skin Care

Both mothers and fathers can practice skin-to-skin care.

How to Practice Skin-to-Skin Care

• In the labour room, if mother and baby are healthy, place the baby skin-to-skin, belly-to-belly immediately after birth.

• In the Neonatal Unit (NNU):

  
  

  • Parents should avoid perfume or aftershave.

  • Wear a front-opening shirt or dress.

  • Wash hands thoroughly before starting.

  • Sit in a comfortable chair in a private area.

  • Ensure the baby’s temperature is between 36.5–37.2 °C.

  • A nurse will undress the baby and place them upright between the mother’s breasts.

  • The nurse will demonstrate how to support the baby’s head and buttocks so the airway stays open (head not too flexed or extended).

  • Monitoring of oxygen saturation and heart rate may continue during skin-to-skin care.

  
  

How Long to Hold the Baby

Start with short periods and gradually increase as your baby tolerates it—aim for at least one hour or more for the greatest benefits.