RD&E Neonatal unit bounce their way to the top to win international Kangaroo-a-thon challenge

The Neonatal team at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have fought off competition from across the globe to win an international Kangaroo-a-thon.

The challenge saw the unit competing against 110 other hospitals around the world including the USA, India and Australia. The team came out on top with an incredible 1351 hours of Kangaroo care recorded over 15 days.

Kangaroo Care, named as such from the close physical contact that a kangaroo gives their young, encourages skin to skin contact between parents and their premature or sick babies.

Mounting evidence has shown that close contact helps to reduce the levels of stress hormones in sick or preterm babies, and can also help to stabilise the baby’s temperature and heart rate, reduce oxygen requirements and support breastmilk production.

The annual challenge, which is arranged by Sunnybrook Health Sciences in Toronto, Canada, asks hospitals to count the number of hours spent giving Kangaroo care during the 15 day challenge from the beginning of May.

Exeter Neonatal unit has promoted the method for a number of years for sick and preterm babies and entering the challenge gave the team an opportunity to see how much skin contact parents could provide. The challenge, which had no prize, was designed to raise awareness of Kangaroo care and encourage hospitals to use it as much as possible.

One parent, whose daughter Edith was born prematurely, said: “Skin to skin makes me feel like she’s mine, rather than looking at her through a glass box.”

Louise Rattenbury, Matron on the Neonatal Unit said: “This amazing achievement was only made possible with the support, enthusiasm and commitment of the families and the whole NNU team. This challenge wasn’t entered for a material prize; the prize is knowing that babies in Exeter are truly benefiting from extraordinary amounts of time in skin contact with their parents.”