Hello folks! As the International Breastfeeding Week has come to a close, so has our campaign: Masters in Breastfeeding Administration wherein we talked about the various Jaipur stores which are supporting nursing mothers, our experience at Rajasthan’s first ever Human Milk Bank: Jeevandhara, breastfeeding tips from their counselor Rajbala, story of a Jaipur-based woman donating her breastmilk, two babies whose lives changed through donated breastmilk, and lastly, about the male member of the Human Milk Bank team.

As an extension to the breastfeeding week’s campaign, we want to tell you about another significant process that we noticed at the Jeevandhara. It goes by the name Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). Now, I am sure many of you might already be familiar with the term, but for those who aren’t, worry not for we have it covered!

During one of my visits to Jeevandhara, the counselor took me to the Kangaroo Mother Care room. I saw about seven mothers each sitting with their tiny baby over them. Yes, tiny. I mean this literally, because most of these babies were pre-mature.

Mature or pre-mature, I think God sends these miniature humans with some sort of magnet which somehow draws everyone around towards them. And clearly, I was no exception. I hastily went on to interact with one of the mothers; her name was Jyoti. Her child was born premature a couple of weeks ago.

So, what happens here in this room?

The counselor answered, “KMC is a process where the child is made to lay on the mother’s chest without the barrier of clothes, in such a way that there is a skin to skin contact between the two. The mother and the child stay in this position for quite some time for many days.”

And why exactly is this done?

This may sound surprising, but the premature or weak babies gain a lot of strength and warmth through a direct skin to skin contact with their mothers. When Jyoti’s baby was born, its weight was very less, as compared to the normal weight a child should be born with. She has been practicing KMC since the past few days and the baby has gained almost a kilogram! It is slowly and steadily becoming strong.

A mother’s love is the mightiest treasure in the whole wide world. I was very well aware of this fact. But I was absolutely dumbfounded knowing about KMC wherein just the proximity of a mother, healed the child.

Perhaps this is the sorcery of unconditional and unbounded motherhood, which makes a woman nothing short of a divine supernatural being for that little life!

Bearing this thought, I bid my adieus to the dedicated team at Jeevandhara and left with so much to ponder upon!

We earnestly hope that your experience with JWB’s International Breastfeeding Week’s Celebrations was inspiring and enlightening, just as it was for us!

Lots of love from the entire team of JWB!

PS: If you are a nursing mother who wishes to donate breastmilk, kindly contact Jeevandhara wing in Rajya Mahila Chikitsalya located near Sanganeri Gate, Jaipur. If you have any query, feel free to contact us.