Kangaroo Care is likely the most widely used term for skin-to-skin contact. Gene Cranston Anderson may have been the first to coin the term Kangaroo Care in the USA. The defining feature of this is however for skin-to-skin contact, commonly abbreviated as SSC, also STS. This is used synonymously with "skin-to-skin care". Dr.Nils Bergman of the founders of the Kangaroo Mother Care Movement argues that since skin-to-skin contact is a place of care, not a kind of care in itself, skin-to-skin contact should be the preferred term. Kangaroo Mother Care is a broader package of care defined by the WHO. Kangaroo Mother Care originally referred only to care of low birth weight and preterm infants, and is defined as a care strategy including three main components: kangaroo position, kangaroo nutrition and kangaroo discharge. Kangaroo position means direct skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, but can include father, other family member or surrogate. The infant should be upright on the chest, and the airway secured with safe technique. (The term Kangaroo Mother Care is commonly used to mean skin-to-skin contact, despite its definition from the WHO as including a broader strategy). Kangaroo nutrition implies exclusive breastfeeding, with additional support as required but with the aim of achieving ultimately exclusive breastfeeding. Kangaroo discharge requires that the infant is sent home early, meaning as soon as the mother is breastfeeding and able to provide all basic care herself. An essential part of this is that there is close follow-up, and access to daily visits. One recent survey found that 82 percent of neonatal intensive care units use kangaroo care in the United States today.
