I was lucky to be one of the people to hear Dr. Bergman today in
Cleveland.  He came back here with Gene Cranston Anderson after the
Congress on Kangaroo Care last weekend.  She started the research on
kangaroo care, I think.  There are advantages to being in a country where
docs are not fearful of being sued for everything they do/don't do for
preemies and all our technology is not available.  He calls what he does
Kangaroo-Mother Care and what he talked most about was when he was at a
mission hospital in Zimbabwe with 2 docs, 108 beds, 3 oxygen cylinders,
surgical room for c/s and other, closest major hospital a 4-6 hr drive.
What was done there:  skin-to-skin contact from birth, continuously;
breastmilk & breastfeeding from birth, exclusively; psychological support
for mother--was done regardless of the weight and gestation of the baby.
There was no other choice--and guess what, even for low birth weight
babies he had a 50% survival rate!

He is dynamite to hear!  I am a private practice LC so don't even work
with preemies, but could have listened lots more.  He was gracious enough
after his hour "quick" talk to sit down at a table in the faculty lounge
and answer questions for a couple more hours.  Lucky us.

Pat Bucknell, IBCLC
Avon Lake Ohio, about 25 miles west of Cleveland along the shores of Lake
Erie

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