You know how sometimes you are presented with information and all you can think about is how that would apply to a certain situation? Anyway, I was thinking about a million things during Molly’s presentation today. When I first learned about Kangaroo Care, I don’t think I ever heard of the term with the word “Mother” inserted in it. I did see/hear it tonight, though, and I was trying to figure out why it was there. I remember my video introduction to KC had a dad involved. But a dad has no role in maternal-fetal attachment. Also, it’s out there written in both ways. I think it is important to include fathers as stakeholders as well since birth does not exist in a vacuum (if fathers are present in the picture, of course). I wouldn’t want that dad from the video to feel left out in Kangaroo Care.
THEN my mind wandered to attachment with adopted children (someone I know= adopted to American family from S. American country, pre-term birth), maternal-fetal attachment, and Kangaroo Care. Attachment is tricky in this case…with whom should the fetus/baby be attached to? The mama that provides the physical environment in which the baby grows (womb mama)? The mama that will raise the baby (home mama)? Perhaps the right answer is the *medium* answer–both. Reasons? I can think of reasons for both, but I’d like to see/hear what y’all think.
~2 page case study below. Father involved, but that’s not the main point. I suspect this is an American case given the name of the journal, but I can’t be sure. This sounds all gravy and such, but what about the child who is born in South America pre-term at 30 weeks? These parents had the luxury of being 15 hours away and kind of being “on call” regarding the birth. What if his parents who live in Miami can’t get there to South America as quickly as the family in the article did due to sheer distance, job logistics, etc.? Delayed Kangaroo Care by adopted parents is probably better than no Kangaroo Care, but it would be interesting to see if there is a significant difference between delayed KC and ASAP KC (by either biological or adopted parents). Also, would it be fair/ethical to ask the biological mother to provide KC to this baby that she has already decided to put up for adoption until adopted parents arrive?
KC can be very important for pre-term babies, critically ill babies, and adopted babies and maybe doubly so for pre-term adoption babies (triply for pre-term, critically ill, adopted?).
Parker, L. & Anderson, G. C. (2002, July/August). Kangaroo Care for Adoptive Parents and Their Critically Ill Preterm Infant. American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing 27(4), 230-232.