In the Scandinavian countries, skin-to-skin contact is more commonly recommended as an alternative for exclusive incubation for premature babies than anywhere else on Earth. It's generally believed that human contact helps the delicate kids to fare better and recover faster than in the total isolation in a machine.
Skin-to-skin contact (SSC) is particularly encouraged in Sweden, where their parents can actually nurse babies that weigh as much as 700 grams. Although it is usually performed by the mother, in cases where she can't cater to the baby, fathers, or other individuals, preferably immediate family members, can warm the kid.
This heartwarming photo of a topless little boy helping his father give skin-to-skin to his premature twin siblings has left us in tears. The viral picture was captured back in 2016 at the Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, it was uploaded to Facebook by the South Africa-based NINO Birth Organization. The little boy in the image lovingly holds his sleeping sibling, helping the child's health and forming a bond that will undoubtedly last a lifetime.
As the organization explained in the post, Swedish Professor Uwe Ewald, who is also a strong advocate for skin-to-skin contact, was in the hospital during the time. In Professor Ewald's revolutionary practice, premature children are regularly taken out of the incubator to receive skin-to-skin contact, even when they're extremely small.
During SSC, the kid is cleaned, dried, and wrapped in a cloth while the caregiver is topless so that as much contact as possible is allowed. After an hour or so, the baby is fed and returned to the incubator. According to Ewald, SSC provides more warmth than an incubator. It also helps to protect babies from serious infections by transmitting protective bacteria into their systems.
While skin-to-skin is a wonderful and medically approved practice, parents shouldn't insist on it for their premature kids without a doctor's consent and approval. Some babies can be too fragile to be out of the incubator. Other than that, this is a lovely practice that should be encouraged in more countries around the world.
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