Effects of Kangaroo Care on the development of oral skills and achievement of exclusive oral feeding in preterm infants.
Carla Ribeiro Ciochetto, Geovana de Paula Bolzan, Daniela da Silva Gonçalves and 2 others
PMID 37556686WHAT IT FOUND
Preterm infants in Kangaroo Care Units reached independent oral feeding in a median of 4.5 days, compared to 10 days in conventional care.
However, these infants gained less weight and were lighter at discharge than those in conventional units.
Key findings
01Infants in the Kangaroo Care Unit achieved independent oral feeding significantly faster (median 4.5 days) than those in the Conventional Unit (median 10 days).
02Weight gain during the transition to oral feeding and weight at hospital discharge were significantly lower for infants in the Kangaroo Care Unit compared to the Conventional Unit.
03All infants in the Kangaroo Care Unit reached the highest oral skill level by the third assessment, whereas the Conventional Unit group required five assessments to reach 100%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Allocation to units was based on maternal criteria, not randomization, introducing potential selection bias. The sample size was small (46 infants). The duration of time spent in the kangaroo position was not measured, so the dose of skin-to-skin contact is unknown. The evaluator could not be blinded to the study objectives due to the small team size. Weight gain was lower in the intervention group, which is a negative outcome that was not fully explained by the study design.
Declared interests
The text does not explicitly state funding sources or conflicts of interest, though it mentions the study was conducted within the Brazilian Unified Health System.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the faster transition to oral feeding as evidence that Kangaroo Care is superior for all outcomes. The infants in the Kangaroo Care group gained significantly less weight and were lighter at discharge. This suggests a trade-off between feeding skill acquisition and growth velocity that requires careful clinical monitoring.