I am saddened such large amounts are being spent on one incubator, when there is overwhelming evidence funds could be put to much better use and help a much larger number of premature babies and drastically increase survival rates.

There has been extensive research into the care of premature babies, and the use of incubators – which are a pivotal point in the history of premature baby care.

Someone, at some point in time, assumed that replicating a womb-like environment outside of the body was the most logical approach to premature baby care.

When tested, survival rates increased and so the assumption was presumed correct and all further advances have been on the basis this assumption is correct.

It isn't.

What extensive research shows is that when a pre-term infant is separated from his mother, he exhibits the same protest/despair response that all mammals exhibit. Body temperature drops, blood-sugar levels drop, heart-rate drops and blood oxygen saturation rates become unstable. These are the very problems that every special care unit struggles most with.

As a result, baby sleeps longer periods, feeds less frequently and gains weight more slowly. Breastfeeding success rates are dramatically reduced, which, in turn, increases the risks of numerous infections that can be life threatening to a premature infant. The amount of premature babies that leave Calderdale having had no formula is miniscule, yet all health professionals and NHS information highlights that breastmilk is even more important to this most vulnerable group of neonates.

Every study examining the outcome of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), which uses the mother's body as an incubator, has demonstrated improved outcome over use of an incubator. In no published paper is a single adverse outcome reported for KMC.

Positive effects on the mother are better, bonding and healing of emotional problems associated with premature birth, among others.

Used alongside other modern medicine techniques, the outcome using KMC is significantly improved – or perhaps another way of phrasing would be that using incubators increases the risks to these vulnerable infants.

This research has been conducted by extremely respected professors, including Dr Nils Bergman who spoke at the NHS Bradford Breastfeeding Conference, attended by several Calderdale special care staff.

It has been reported in the newspapers and yet Calderdale do not have the facilities to support true KMC beyond allowing small periods of skin-to-skin time with older premature infants.

£35,000 would go a long way to improve these facilities and improve outcome for far more babies than could ever hope to benefit from one incubator. But perhaps beyond funding, the paradigm shift that a mother can indeed be more efficient at nurturing her baby than a piece of equipment may be the stumbling block, which is ultimately harder to change than raising £35,000.

Charlotte Young,
co-founder of iwantmymum.com and Breastfeeding Beyond Babyhood