Kanagroo Care ANR Audio Clip

As an academic medical center, University of Louisville Hospital is regarded as a leader in research and clinical care in major areas such as stroke, trauma and cancer care. What you may not know is University Hospital is also leading the way on better health for new mothers and their babies.

Through the Kangaroo Care Initiative, University of Louisville Hospital’s Center for Women and Infants is not only giving its own new moms and babies the best start, but is teaching other area hospitals about implementing the special “skin-to-skin” contact between babies and their mothers in their facilities.

Kangaroo Care, a program where the baby – dressed only in diaper and hat – rests against the mother’s chest in the hours immediately after birth, and then again for sessions throughout her stay in the hospital, promotes bonding and encourages breastfeeding as the standard of care for a baby’s first nutritional needs. Kangaroo Care also gives new fathers the chance to “kangaroo” with the babies, too.

The effort is showing some amazing results… like the increase in breastfeeding rates at Flaget Memorial Hospital (Bardstown, KY), one of the first of seven hospitals around the region to learn and implement the “Kangaroo Care” program after a September 2010 workshop held by University of Louisville Hospital.

According to Kangaroo Care Program Coordinator Denise Barbier of University of Louisville Hospital’s Center for Women and Infants, one of the most important outcomes of Kangaroo Care is that the program leads to a sustained increase in breastfeeding rates.

Why is that so important? “Because breastfeeding offers both mom and infant better health outcomes,” Barbier said. But unfortunately, breastfeeding rates for Kentucky are among the lowest in the nation at a rate of 59 percent of women initiating breastfeeding after giving birth compared to the national rate of 75 percent.

Research demonstrates babies have better protection against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, asthma, diabetes, ear infections, allergies, respiratory infections and even obesity later in life. And for Mom, there is decreased risk for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, heart disease and postpartum depression.

The average breastfeeding percentage at Flaget Memorial for the 5 months prior to the workshop was 48 percent, and their goal was to increase to 55 percent after implementation. But their rate has exceeded expectations with a record high rate last December of 75 percent and the latest figures available from April 2011 show a still solid increase of 67 percent breastfeeding rates.

University of Louisville Hospital and Flaget Memorial Hospital (Bardstown), will both be part of the proposed merger of University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Joseph Health System – a partnership that will expand services and medical advances statewide.

Other “Kangaroo Care champion” hospitals that participated in the Kangaroo Care Initiative training by University of Louisville Hospital are Baptist Hospital East, Baptist Hospital Northeast, Clark Memorial Hospital (Indiana), Hardin Memorial Hospital (Elizabethtown), Springview Hospital (Lebanon), Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center (Leitchfield). These hospitals met a second time for a follow-up workshop at University of Louisville Hospital in March 2011 and detailed their best practices in championing Kangaroo Care to staff, physicians and patients.

University of Louisville Hospital will soon be conducting eight “train the trainer” Kangaroo Care workshops for all 55 birthing hospitals in Kentucky beginning in October 2011.

A new patient DVD on Kangaroo Care is now available through the University Hospital website.  To view click here.