United States Institute for Kangaroo Care

What Is Kangaroo Care?

Kangaroo care is skin-to-skin contact between mothers or fathers and their infants. Research studies are conducted at Case Western Reserve University, and certification as a kangaroo caregiver and conferences on kangaroo care are developed and administered by faculty at Case.

Ongoing research studies are funded variously by the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR/NIH), the Ohio Nurses Foundation, and the Regents Infrastructure Grant. These studies include:

• Skin Contact Effects on Physiologic Sleep

• Kangaroo Care to Blunt Pain in Premature Infants

• Kangaroo Care to Support African American Breastfeeding

• Kangaroo Care at Birth: Temperature and Blood Glucose Outcomes in Fullterm Infants

• Development and Sleep Organization in Fullterm Infants

Our Mission

The mission of the United States Institute for Kangaroo Care (USIKC) is to promote the Family Friendly Hospital Initiative and utilization of Kangaroo Care for all newborns in the Americas by providing education, resources, links to additional resources, consultation, a comprehensive annotated bibliography of all publications about Kangaroo Care from around the world, and recognition of excellence in Kangaroo Care by certification. The USIKC is the only authorized certifying entity in the Americas.