Title: "Kangaroo Care Unit in Creteil – France"

C. Hureaux.

Our unit is located in the post pattum ward of Obstetric Deparment. We can care 5 babies with their Kangaroo Mother. We recieve low birth weight infants eigther premature from 32 weeks or hypotrophic from 150 gr, singgle and twins. On the same time we have to take are also of newborns with acute illness, mostly infection or respiratory distress when is not life-threatening. There is only one neonatlologist nurse present all time 24 H/24H.

Our main difficulties are:

I About the babies:

  1. Those phatologic ones need most of the time of the nurse when they are not really stabilized.
  2. When there are at the same time too much babies very young and premature #32 weeks.
  3. Another difficulty is the transient period where the baby begins to take milk but still needs supplementation by feeding tube.

II About the mothers:

Some of them find their staying too long and boring when their baby is spleping during long time. After a first period where they find it so marevellous to be with the baby, to keep it skin to skin, to discover his abilities... they would like that the baby became oldier and again weight faster.

III The Nurses:

Feel very alone mostly on the evening and night time: Only one, with succession of different people each 8 hours.

IV The Buildings:

Are on 2 stores, not all the rooms are close to the unit.

V The Network, The Relations:

With other people staff of maternity, colleagues from Neonaatology, intensive care unit, outside health services... are sometimes difficult because people don’t trust in the capacities of the mothers and babies.

VI Lots of people want to know about KCU and ask for a visit, a staying and so it takes time.

What solutions we try

  • Ask help from maternity or neonatology ward.

  • Transfer some baby too ill to ICU or some baby ti neonatology if the mother wants to go home.

    •  Give permission to the mother once or twice in a week to go outside with her husband or go home to see the others children and come back for the evening.

  • Try to make the mothers meet them together, exchange their feelings and see they are not alone, help them with psychologist.

  • Make the different staffs meet together for informations, exchanges ( video, reports,references....

What Research are in project:

  • Understand what happen between nurse and mother in the transmission of knowledge, competencies.
  • Comparate the evolution of babies they are dmitted in classic neonatology unit or Kangaroo Care Unit.