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Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
One of the places where breastfeeding challenges are a daily struggle is within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a hospital ward for babies who came too early and/or in need of any health support after birth.
Therefore we’re offering several programs to improve skilled lactation support and to reduce stress in newborns so they will receive the best possible food and save energy to grow and develop well which will subsequently lead to an early discharge
Breastfeeding support kits program
Leaf developed a program for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to encourage breastfeeding for small and sick newborns. The complete program is a two years partnership between a healthcare facility and Leaf and it exits of:
- Intensive breastfeeding training for NICU Staff
- Capacity building through a train-the-trainer concept and facilitate the process to become an IBCLC
- Support in becoming a Baby Friendly Hospital
- Providing medical equipment to help to solve breastfeeding challenges in the NICU
- For every mother in the NICU a kit with information and materials about breastfeeding and pumping in the NICU
- Follow-up & evaluation
KMC
Kangaroo Mother Care terminology was derived from how kangaroos care for their young:
keeping them warm in the maternal pouch and close to the breasts for unlimited feeding until they are mature.
“KMC is the early, prolonged, and continuous skin-to-skin contact between the mother (or substitute) and her low birth weight infant, both in hospital and after early discharge until at least the 40th week of post gestational age, with ideally exclusive breastfeeding and proper follow up”. (Catteno, Davanzo, Uxa 1998)
Kmc is an innovative method developed to provide thermal care for LWB newborns.
The first trial of KMC was launched to address over-crowding, cross-infection, poor prognosis and extremely high LBW mortality rates. As today in Ghana, these are still common problems in the NICU.
Over the years it has proven its effectiveness and therefore Leaf developed a training to help a NICU team how to implement KMC within their wards.
Developmental Care
“Your hands make the world of the child… how do you want this world to look like?”
– Dr. Nick Conneman, EMC 2007
The main aim for developmental care is to stimulate the development of a child in the NICU.
As a NICU professional you’ll learn how to look, listen and care for these tiny babies.
Their body language is telling you so much, you’ll just have to understand the babies language.
Be aware of babies discomfort and stress and act towards it. This way of care has been proven effective in reducing stress in babies, which make them thrive and develop better and faster.
