“My name is Sangari and I am a teacher. I had my first child, a lovely baby girl who due to my very high blood pressure, was born pre-term at 33 weeks, that’s about 7½  months. When she was born, she weighed 1.6kg. She spent several days in the neonatal intensive care unit before being transferred to the neonatal ward. 

In the neonatal ward, I first heard about KMC when the nurses introduced it to me briefly. After that, I did my own research and found on the World Health Organisation website that there are many benefits to both mum and baby. They also had information on the how to do it. I was concerned about my baby’s weight. I knew that she could only come home if she had grown enough. I found that KMC was a way that can help my baby grow. 

Ever since then, I have been doing KMC three times a day and at least one hour each time. I got a lot of help. Even the doctors helped me to improve the position of my baby on my chest. I really love doing KMC a lot because my baby looks so comfortable and peaceful, and she feeds more. Previously, I used to cup-feed my baby expressed breast milk but since I started doing KMC, I noticed that my baby will naturally move into the breastfeeding position and I can feed her directly. I feel like she also drinks more milk when I am doing KMC.

I also really enjoy KMC because I myself feel love looking at my baby sleeping peacefully on my chest. It has many benefits to both baby and parent such as bonding with the baby, faster weight gain and the feeling of being close to the baby. I am very glad that I learned about KMC and will definitely recommend this to other parents. Anyone can do it, even fathers, the baby’s brother or sister and grandparents!”