Kangaroo Mother Care: a leap in warmth and safe, quality care for premature babies (Bogota, Colombia

Research can improve quality of care and direct the use of resources towards appropriate technologies. Premature babies are unable to regulate their body temperature. Kangaroo Mother Care has used research to regain some of the best that Mother Nature has to offer providing safe, family-friendly options for newborn babies. Edgar Rey, a Colombian pediatrician, proposed Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in 1978 as an alternative to prevent the distress of separating families in neonatal care units and to provide care for premature babies in low-resource settings. Much research has been done since then and has helped to establish that KMC is safe for many premature babies and is a more convenient alternative for many families.