A team of researchers, after reviewing a number of studies, has concluded that providing ‘kangaroo care’ helps to improve health of newborns. It can also help to improve survival among premature and underweight babies.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health said it was earlier known that kangaroo mother care can benefit all babies in terms of oxygenation, temperature regulation, and pain tolerance. But the review revealed that it can also help in health and a dramatic reduction in mortality rates among low birth weight and preterm infants.

They found this practice is seen to give more benefits in low- and middle-income countries. These are countries almost neonatal death rate is 99% and health technologies, such as incubators are more difficult to access.

Senior author Dr. Grace Chan, a professor at Harvard Chan School and Boston Children's Hospital, said, “While KMC or skin-to-skin care is particularly useful for low birth weight babies born where medical resources are limited, developed and developing countries are moving to 'normalize' KMC or skin-to-skin as a beneficial practice for all newborns and mothers”.

The researchers in the new review published in the journal Pediatrics analyzed around 124 studies published between 2000 and 2014. All these studies looked at skin-to-skin contact as a part of kangaroo mother care.

The researcher found that newborns weighing less than 4.4 pounds who were given kangaroo mother care showed 36% reduction in mortality and 47% lower risk of sepsis or major infections.

They also noted that the infants had higher oxygen levels, better growth, lower pain measures, and were 50% more likely to exclusively breastfeed when discharged from a hospital.