Challenges to skin-to-skin kangaroo care: cesarean delivery and critically ill NICU patients.

Although SSC following birth is known to be beneficial for both the mother and the baby, barriers continue to exist following cesarean delivery as well as for critically ill neonates. Neonates are sometimes deprived of this important benefit due to staff anxiety or inexperience. A collaborative approach between perinatal and neonatal team members can effectively introduce the practice as routine in the OB OR and the Level III NICU. Parents are valuable advocates for this essential best practice. Mothers and their offspring benefit both in the short term, as well as long term, when we address the barriers and overcome this clinical challenge.