Kangaroo Mother Care Promotes Catch-Up Growth in Very Preterm Low Birth Weight Infants: Study
A recent prospective cohort study published in the Indian Journal of Neonatal Medicine and Research in March 2026 demonstrates that while neonates born at 28-32 weeks’ gestation initially lag in growth, they achieve a statistically significant weight gain of 245.34±41.3 grams by week six, remarkably outperforming more mature counterparts through consistent kangaroo mother care.
Low Birth Weight (LBW) remains a primary driver of neonatal mortality in developing nations like India, where 18.6% of infants are born underweight; however, despite the known benefits of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for thermal regulation and breastfeeding, a lack of comparative data regarding how different Gestational Age (GA) groups respond to this intervention led Dr. Sharlin Matin and colleagues from the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan College of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Child Health to investigate these varying postnatal growth trajectories.
Therefore, the prospective cohort study, conducted between June 2021 and May 2022 at a tertiary hospital in Kolkata, monitored 249 LBW neonates divided into three GA brackets—28-32, 32-35, and 35-37 weeks—who received four to six hours of daily KMC in 1.5-hour sessions until reaching a weight of 2.5 kg, while excluding infants requiring continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or those presenting with hemodynamic instability. The researchers used repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to evaluate weekly absolute and percentage weight changes, focusing on the Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) populations to determine whether birth maturity could accurately predict postnatal development.
Key Clinical Findings of the Study Include:
Pronounced Initial Loss: During the first week, the study noted that the most premature group (28-32 weeks) faced the highest mean weight loss of -114.25 grams, significantly more than the -87.66 grams and -30.09 grams lost by the older cohorts.
Early Growth Deficit: Research evidence showed that for the first four weeks of life, infants with lower GA consistently maintained lower daily and percentage weight gains compared to babies born at more advanced gestations.
Late-Stage Acceleration: By the sixth postnatal week, the study revealed a significant shift where the 28-32 week group’s absolute gain of 245.34 grams surpassed the 210.22 grams and 183.68 grams recorded for the 32-35 and 35-37 week groups, respectively (p = 0.003).
Superior Percentage Gains: The study established that the percentage weight gain for the earliest preterm infants reached 15.14% by the sixth week, which was substantially higher than the 10.05% and 7.55% observed in the more mature infant groups (p < 0.001).
The results suggest that although neonates born at 28-32 weeks' gestation demonstrate an initial lag in growth, they eventually exhibit a powerful compensatory acceleration, achieving significantly higher weekly absolute and percentage weight gains than more mature preterm infants after the first month of life.
Thus, the study concludes that clinicians might consider these distinct, age-dependent growth patterns when managing KMC protocols, as understanding these trajectories helps in predicting the necessary duration of hospitalization and specialized care required for infants to reach the 2.5 kg target weight.
While the findings provide valuable insights, the study was limited by its single-center observational design and potential confounding factors such as neonatal sepsis or feed intolerance, suggesting that future large-scale, multicentric research would be beneficial to further confirm these growth trends.
Reference
Matin S, Saha S, Chatterjee S. Impact of Gestational Age on Weekly Weight Gain in Preterm Low Birth Weight Infants Undergoing Kangaroo Mother Care in a Tertiary Hospital: A Prospective Cohort Study. Indian J Neonatal Med Res. 2026; 14(1): PO01-PO05
