Earlier this year, the Royal North Shore Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) participated in the annual Miracle Babies Kangaroo-A-Thon and were recently announced as winners of the event.

The goal of the Kangaroo-A-Thon is to encourage all NICUs to actively promote kangaroo care. Kangaroo care involves parents holding their babies against their bare chests and as part of the event, the NICU staff logged how many hours this was done for across the unit over a two-week period. 

The RNSH NICU participates in the Kangaroo-A-Thon every year, and this year RNSH was awarded first place out of 26 participating hospitals around the world for logging an incredible 626 hours and 35 minutes of parent’s kangaroo caring with their babies.

The aim of the event is to raise awareness of brain development, neuro-protection, attachment building and immunity boosting that skin-to-skin contact between parents and babies provides.

As winners, the RNSH NICU was awarded a new recliner chair for parents to use for cuddling and feeding their baby as well as resting beside their baby during long days in the NICU.

NICU Clinical Nurse Consultant Emily Macnaught said the Kangaroo-A-Thon is an excellent way to raise awareness and have parents and staff actively involved in learning about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact.

“It’s a way parents can be part of their baby’s care and do something pleasant to minimise stress for their baby and themselves,” she said.

“It’s fantastic that events like this exist to raise awareness on the importance of skin-to-skin contact for parents and their babies.”