Kangaroo Glove

Every year nearly 15 million preterm newborns are born all over the world. Complications of preterm birth are the dominant cause of infant death, which results in around one million deaths every year. Skin-to-skin contact, also called Kangaroo mother care (KMC), can be very valuable and helps to reduce deaths in preterm newborns. Many healthcare studies have found that KMC has multiple benefits regarding the health and development of premature infants and should be promoted and encouraged actively to be used during the preterm stages. KMC involves taking the baby from the incubator and placing it on the parents’ chest to provide skin to skin contact, and enables frequent breastfeeding. Even though KMC’s benefits are promising, several inhibitors such as the anxiety of harming the infant and lack of help with KMC practice form a barrier to this practice.

The ‘Kangaroo Glove’ helps to provide a safe practice for providing KMC to the parents. The Kangaroo Glove is a multi-layered fabric glove, which facilitates KMC for premature infants in a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) environment. It helps to support the weight of the baby while taking it out of the incubator. The infant is strapped to the glove to provide extra security and safe handling. Breathing tubes, sensors and other necessary medical cables can be secured to the glove to take away the anxiety of pulling these cables and causing harm to the infant. The Kangaroo Glove is a tool that provides a safe and guided approach for parents to independently provide Kangaroo Mother Care without a nurses' intervention, giving the parents some much needed autonomy during this difficult time at the NICU.