As part of #CareForHumanTouch – the initiative launched globally to support projects that envisage human contact as an element that improves the quality of life for people at risk of loneliness, including preterm children – Nivea (Beiersdorf group ) gave birth to a project in favor of Neonatal Intensive Care (TIN) of the Vittore Buzzi Children’s Hospital in Milan: reference center in Lombardy and throughout Italy for specialist assistance in the maternal and child field.
Created with the support of the Milan Children’s Hospital association – Buzzi Onlus, the Kangaroo Skin to Skin Care Therapy project revolves around the enhancement of skin-to-skin contact therapy in the neonatal setting. It is the so-called Kangaroo Mother Care Therapy: a practice that is considered indispensable and necessary for the cognitive, neurological and psychophysical development of premature babies. In fact, there are many benefits offered by this therapy which takes inspiration from what kangaroo mothers do in nature – whose young are born extremely premature and unsuitable for independent life, but continue their development in a special maternal pocket (the baby carrier ) where they are warm, protected and well fed by milk: from the reduction of mortality to the improvement of breathing, temperature control and oxygenation in the blood, up to the exclusive breastfeeding rate.
But that is not all. The “therapy pouch” it also has positive effects in terms of bonding as it favors the constitution of the special emotional bond that is created between a child and his mother (or father). Finally, remember the benefits for mothers, who see this opportunity as one of the few concrete things they can do for their babies, after the trauma of premature birth.
The initiative – which will also live in 2022 with an extension planned in the years to come – was officially launched today, November 17, 2021, in conjunction with the world day of prematurity and includes: a training program for health personnel in ward with practical tests on “Kangaroo Mother Care” and breastfeeding. The courses, which will be held on a cyclical basis, will be preparatory to the training of new staff and will be managed by an internal nurse of the structure already trained on Kangaroo Care and by an external professional specialized in this technique; training for parents by hospital health personnel starting from January 2022 to educate them in the practice by providing tools and basic notions on therapy.
And again, the purchase and the distribution of equipment and technical supports for the TIN department such as monitors, breastfeeding and therapy chairs with footrests, breastfeeding pads and straps for therapy bags, containment materials for cradle / incubator; the dissemination of information materials such as leaflets, guides and educational videos; supply of products for parents who have to stay in the hospital’s foster homes during the recovery period of their child. homes of the OBM association.