Description of the Kangaroo Zak
I kangarooed Zachary for at least 5 hrs/day in the NICU. During the flood that shut down his incubator and all the equipment in Houston in 2001, I held him skin-to-skin for 9 (yes, nine!) hours. I took my experience, my PhD in ergonomics and Human Factors engineering, and I travelled around the world learning about KMC to design the best Kangaroo tool for high-tech environments.
I continue to pay my promise to help babies because my son Zachary survived the flood, 155 nights hospitalized, and against the most incredible odds. He is a healthy, intelligent, and adorable boy and he continues to be my loving inspiration. The Kangaroo Zak (named also after him) is the preferred gift to new parents in hospitals - it is the gift of closeness!
The Kangaroo Zak is a strapless wrap that goes around the torso and closes with a zipper on the side (adjustable to 3 sizes). It is comfortable, safe, and efficient for the baby, the parent, and for the nurse. It allows hands-free holding and facilitates lactation - increasing the time that the baby is held!
Rule of thumb: preemies are kangarooed until their due date and healthy newborns for the first couple of weeks of life.
Since the creation of KMC, there was the need to help mothers to hold their babies with the help of a support that keep the baby in the correct kangaroo position. Nobody can keep hugging a baby for long periods of time (the arms get very tired) and much less rest/sleep for fear that the baby changes his/her position and may fall!!!
Several tests have been performed with different supports of fabric in each culture around the world, that provide boundaries to the baby and are comfortable for the one who is holding the baby, providing security, comfort and the permanence of the baby in skin to skin contact, so that in the world market are available different devices from very elaborated chargers (with braces and mooring systems of different types) to the simple band (Kangaroo Zak) presented here.
The simplicity and non-gender specific characteristics of the Kangaroo Zak give an extra component for parents and caregivers that provides the tranquility of keeping the baby upright as strictly defined in the different manuals and publications of KMC worldwide. It is easy to handle the baby and place him/her in or out the chest as many times as necessary, and of course, the easy access to vital signs monitoring and stabilization of the baby in the hospital setting.
The Kangaroo Zak is a band made of a material that ensures an adequate thermal environment, hypoallergenic and from natural fibers, washable, no deformable, affordable and can be used at different stages of growth of the baby or for different caregivers (father o mother), for its property multi-size, adaptable with its zipper. There are two sizes of the Kangaroo Zak: Size 1 adjusts to S/M/L; and Size 2 adjusts to XL/2XL/3XL.
The Kangaroo Zak™ provides boundaries to the babies in kangaroo position ensuring continuous, proper, safe, and permanent skin-to-skin contact. The skin to skin contact has impact on the strengthening of the mother-child relationship, thermal regulation, control and/or decrease of gastro esophageal reflux, improving of breathing and patterns of behavior, all supported by numerous scientific publications.
The main benefits of the Kangaroo Zak are that it ensures the comfort of the parents who hold their babies, leaving their hands free for other tasks of daily routine and reducing the anxiety of the risk of accidental slippage of the baby, especially during sleep while hospitalized or at home (as practiced in many countries).
