For Preemies and Parents, Kangaroo Care Is More Than a Calming Touch—It’s Treatment

Jordan McMiller with son Kairii in the NICU at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

On any given day in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, a parent leans back in a recliner with a newborn nestled on their bare chest. The room hums with monitors and soft whispers. But in this moment, what matters most is skin on skin.

It’s called kangaroo care—a practice where parents hold their diapered baby directly against their chest, recreating the warmth and security of the womb. And on International Kangaroo Care Day, it is celebrated not as a mere comforting gesture, but as a powerful medical intervention.

A Practice Born of Necessity, Now Backed by Science

Kangaroo care is a human act that offers significant medical benefits, particularly for premature or medically fragile babies in the NICU. Initially used in low-income countries to boost babies’ survival, it has been slower to catch on in the United States. But a growing body of research suggests that the practice has benefits for preemies’ brains, which is among the many reasons why kangaroo care is recommended by Stanford neonatologists.

Stanford Medicine research published in the Journal of Pediatrics in July 2024 reveals that even small increases in skin-to-skin time can significantly enhance babies’ neurologic development during their first year. This suggests that kangaroo care provides some of the developmental inputs that premature babies would have received if born full-term.

“Ultimately, we want our patients to be healthy kids who can achieve the same milestones as if they didn’t come into the NICU, says Melissa Scala, MD, a neonatologist who cares for preemies at Packard Children’s. “Our finding legitimizes skin-to-skin care as a vital intervention in the NICU to support our goal of getting that child out of the hospital, able to learn and develop.”

Additional science-backed benefits of kangaroo care include improved heart and respiratory rates, weight gain, lower infection rates, better comfort and pain control, stable blood sugar levels, and reduced mortality. It also triggers the release of oxytocin in both parents, enhancing their mental health and well-being during emotionally challenging times. For parents of premature infants, kangaroo care helps build parenting confidence, reduce stress and depression, and increase breastfeeding rates despite the overwhelming medical environment.

Our Parents’ Stories

For Roxana and Aakash Arora, whose son Jahaan was born at 25 weeks, the everyday practice of kangaroo care is both a shared responsibility and a balancing act. “It was so special, so warm my heart melted,” says Roxana. “I lose the battle to the main parent,” Aakash says jokingly, referring to the joint responsibility of providing skin-to-skin contact with their son. “[Kangaroo care] makes me feel closer to him. It makes me miss him a lot more too. We compete to see how much lower we can get his oxygen requirements. Roxy: 1. Me: tie.”

Suzanne Napier, mother to Reece, born at 24 weeks and two days, found skin-to-skin contact intimidating at first because of how small he was. “The team gave me good instructions, so I was comfortable,” Suzanne says. “You get used to it real quickly.”

“There’s nothing like having skin-to-skin contact, especially when you’re in the NICU,” Claire Layton says of her son whose first name is Layton. “It’s really special time you get with your baby, when you don’t get the normal start to your motherhood journey.” Joe Dickerson, father, says he was scared to hold Layton at first. “It was nerve-racking, but then it’s a special time. It’s good to see him grow every day. He calms down when he’s on skin-to-skin. He’s very comfortable.”

For Jordan McMiller, kangaroo care became a special time following the early days of his son Kairii’s stay in the hospital. “It was exciting to finally be able to hold him, especially after everything we had seen him go through in the NICU. After seeing all the tubes and everything, to finally be able to hold him—it gave him a sense of normalcy.”

On International Kangaroo Care Day, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health celebrates a meaningful intervention in neonatal care—one that begins with a parent’s healing touch.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and our neonatology service are ranked No. 5 in the nation and best in the West by U.S. News & World Report.