Evaluate All Caregiving Events in Terms of Infant Stress
An undisputed effect of KC is that it reduces infant stress. As soon as KC begins, the oxytocin released in the insular cortex of the infant induces a drop in stress hormones.[41] Within 20 min of KC's onset, serum cortisol values have dropped by 67%–72%.[42] Four days of intermittent KC sessions has cumulative effects on reduction of stress in most infants,[43] but even one session of KC significantly reduces stress level[44] and confirms earlier findings that infants in KC have much lower cortisol levels than when they were in the incubator.[45] The drop in cortisol and decreased autonomic reactivity seen in response to KC was found to be sustained at 10 years of age,[32] suggesting that early KC influences neural connections or epigenetic pathways to such a degree that patterns established during the newborn period, a period of neural plasticity for each of the senses, are sustained beyond the newborn period and into childhood.
In summary, KC satisfies the six requirements for an appropriate developmental therapy for preterm newborns. Also, KC has many additional benefits to infants, mothers and fathers. A review of physiologic effects[46] and all effects (i.e., decrease in number of required transfusions, decrease in nosocomial infections, improvements in metabolic activities, etc.) for preterm and full-term infants[47] is available for further study. One can also access a complete annotated bibliography of publications about KC from around the world that is updated quarterly and on the Web site of the United States Institute for Kangaroo Care (www.kangaroocareusa.org) under the Resource page. How an infant responds to KC and any other therapy is maternal/infant dependent. Despite a predominance of only positive reports about infant responses to KC, one will inevitably encounter an infant who does not respond as expected,[48] reminding us that the only expert about how any therapy will work is the infant him/herself. KC is now considered an essential therapy to promote growth and development of the premature infant, and especially to promote development of the infant's brain.[3]
NAINR. 2013;13(2):73-75. © 2013 Elsevier Science, Inc.
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