"Kangaroo Method"

The results of introducing the 'kangaroo method' (constant nursing of the baby skin to skin on the mother's chest), as the exclusive means of treating low birth weight (LBW) babies is reported, in the context of a mission hospital in a developing country without incubators and standard equipment for care of LBW neonates. Details of the method developed are described. The survival of babies born under 1500 g improved from 10% to 50%, whereas that of babies 1500-1999 g improved from 70% to 90%.

 I was always told that when a baby was sick the mother would hold the baby to their chest then the warmth and beat of her heart would keep the baby alive. I took it as just superstition.

   So 7 yrs ago my family pet had a litter of puppies and there was a runt. He was so small and cute as they usually are, well she wouldn't nurse him or keep him with the rest of the puppies. For about one week Every night after work I would walk outside in the cold month of February and he would be crying while she would be under the barn with the rest of the puppies, so every night i would pull her out and make her lay there so he could eat then put him with the rest of the puppies. I would ask my mom to keep an eye during the day because I would have to be at the bus stop for school by 645am then get out of school at 230pm to only get dropped off at the bus stop and walk to work, I never made it home till after 1030pm.
After one week I got home at 11pm and my mom told me she couldn't get Wendy (the mother of the puppies) to nurse osito (the name i had given the runt, which means baby bear) so i walked outside to find him in a small hole where I am guessing he had stumbled looking for the rest of the litter and couldn't get out. He wouldn't even move and hadn't eaten all day it was freezing outside so i was sure i had lost him, his heart was still beating though so I took him inside, laid him on my chest and covered us up under a warm blanket and waited...... Much to my surprise after about 30 minutes he started crying and squirming! so off we went at midnight to find a puppy bottle and the special puppy milk. I took care of him, fed him and he slept with me on my bed. He would wake me looking for milk through out the night, I felt like a teenage mother, though I am sure it wasn't half as hard as having an actual baby.
 Time flew though and he was on puppy food in no time so cute and fluffy like a cotton ball. Osito was on special food though he had a very sensitive stomach and he was blind. When i would get home he would hear my voice and come running bumping into everything falling back then right back up till he got to me. I loved him so much I felt so connected to him I guess because I had to literally play mommy with him.
At the end of May I was away for a weekend, I left written instruction and everything. Ziploc bags with the exact amount he needed to be fed, the times he needed to be fed and took out, etc.. When I returned he was outside, my dad believed dogs belong outside and he didn't like the way i treated "the dog like a human child".
I walked outside to find Osito walking like he was about to fall, I picked him up took him inside and gave him water he whimpered the rest of the afternoon. That night he vomited all over the room and had diarrhea. I stayed up all night with him not knowing what to do and I didn't even know 24 hr vet hospitals existed. He started to get frustrated running into the wall, all I could do was hold him and I cried feeling like I should know what to do. Finally he stopped and I hoped it meant it was over it was 5am, i had gotten no sleep but stayed holding him I was scared to put him down, I thought he would die and he would be alone. He starred at me, his eyes, I still remember those eyes he couldn't see me but I felt he was looking straight at me. My dad was on his way to work and just put his arm around me and said he was sorry. My mom took the puppy from me at 630am she said he was gone and that i needed to let go. I still felt a heart beat though and the vet up the street opened in one hour and a half, she told me to take a nap and at 8 we would take him because i needed to be at work at 10am. As soon as I laid down she walked in to tell me he was gone, that it happened as soon as I walked away.
I blame myself for so many things to this day like if i would have known about a 24hr vet or if i would have stayed home over that weekend, I later found out my parents gave him scraps. They always gave the dogs scraps but not mine, he was always on his strict diet and that weekend when they gave it to the other dogs he ate some as well in the scraps was pork leftover and no one could tell me how old it was. I was 17 when this all happened and completely oblivious to what it really meant to own a dog. I know now.
I cant do anything now about the dog I lost but it makes me all more the cautious with the three I have now. My advise to everyone is, Please inform yourself before getting a pet. Oh and always ADOPT, there are to many dogs already dying alone.