The bond between a mother and her child is like nothing else in the entire world; indeed, it can be powerful and life-changing, which mum Leigh Dumighan can attest to.
Leigh has credited skin-to-skin contact – commonly known as kangaroo care – with saving her extremely premature son Warwick’s life, eight years ago.
According to The Coventry Telegraph, little Warwick was born 11 weeks early. Doctors gave a bleak outlook for his survival, and didn’t believe that he would make it; Leigh was accordingly sent home from hospital with her tot.
Opening up to Bliss, an organisation for babies born premature or sick, Leigh revealed that the idea of skin-to-skin came to her one day in hospital when she took baby Warwick out of his incubator.
After hearing a ‘squeal’ and noticing that Warwick had stopped crying, Leigh came to a conclusion: “He knew what he liked, and it wasn’t the incubator.”
While Warwick was given palliative care, incredibly, he began responding to skin-to-skin contact with his doting mother. This proved to be the exact treatment that he needed, and he went on to not only survive but thrive.
Leigh told Bliss: “Our teeny-weenie is our miracle man, as he stayed with us. He’s now eight years old, and the power of skin-to-skin is a life-saver.
“He didn’t ‘suit’ the incubator. He wanted real love and touch. He craved Mommy’s warmth, safety and smell; and he felt content when he had it. It felt normal for him, and he felt better when he was on me.
“He loved it so much that our kangaroo care cuddles made him strong enough to fight to stay with us.”
Leigh’s experience was transformative on more than one level; she went on to run Kangaroo Care UK, an organisation dedicated to educating people about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact for babies.
Leigh’s story follows the release of interesting research supporting the incredible health benefits of kangaroo care.
According to the study, published in the medical journal Paediatrics, intensive kangaroo mother care can boost survival rates and brain development in premature babies.
Do you have an experience with kangaroo care? Be sure to let us know in the comment section.
