Impact of Gestational Age on Weekly Weight Gain in Preterm Low Birth Weight Infants Undergoing Kangaroo Mother Care in a Tertiary Hospital: A Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction: Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) fosters the wellbeing of babies by promoting temperature control, ease of breast-feeding, and strengthening the bond between mother and baby. Rarely any comparative analysis between preterm child receiving KMC of different Gestational Age (GA) groups and their subsequent weight gain has been conducted. This study tried to fulfill this gap. Aim: To observe differential weight gain in different GA groups (28-32, 32-35 and 35-37 weeks) of preterm child receiving KMC and thus establishing an association between GA and postnatal weight gain in preterm babies receiving KMC. Materials and Methods: The present prospective cohort study was done in Chittaranjan Seva Sadan College of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Child Health, a Tertiary Hospital in Kolkata,West Bengal, India, from June 2021 to May 2022. Data on Low Birth Weight (LBW) babies weighing