Nurses raise funds and awareness for kangaroo care

NICU staff at Southmead Hospital raised money for the hospital's charity by dressing as kangaroos to promote kangaroo care.

As part of International Kangaroo Care Awareness Day on 15 May, the team also hosted a cake sale and a 'kangaroo-care-athon' where parents on the unit were encouraged to hold their babies skin-to-skin. Each baby on the NICU was given a kangaroo book, mug and toy, funded by Southmead Hospital Charity, to promote the International Kangaroo Care Awareness initiative.

Southmead Hospital Charity has also funded reclining chairs for parents to lie with their babies to facilitate skin-to-skin contact.

NICU matron Michelle Jackson says: "With the funds raised, we hope to be able to buy each parent a special kangaroo sling to use while on the unit."