Dads Can Do Skin-to-Skin Too: How a NICU Device Helped One Father Bond with His Twins

His twins arrived at 26 weeks, and for days he was afraid to even pick them up. Then a Houston hospital offered him the chance to try something most NICU parents haven’t seen yet.

Bringing a baby into the world is often perceived as mostly the mother’s turf. Pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding all primarily involve the mother. So it’s easy for dads to feel like they’re watching from the sidelines.

One of the most important things a newborn can receive is skin-to-skin contact, or what is also known as kangaroo care. This involves holding the baby close to the parent’s body, with the child’s bare skin touching the parent’s bare chest.

A mother holding her bare-skinned newborn baby close to her chest | Source: Pexels

This is often a practice between mothers and their newborns, but this doesn’t mean fathers and other family members can’t do it too. In fact, for some mothers recovering from childbirth, fathers can step in on their behalf.

According to Jaclyn Ruggiero, MD, a neonatal-perinatal medicine physician at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, there’s a difference between skin-to-skin contact and just cuddling. “Skin-to-skin is a physiology,” she told Parents. “It’s an actual event.” The contact activates the vagus nerve, which helps control heart rate, breathing, and digestion.

Kangaroo care is especially useful for babies born early or small, because it can help steady the heart rate, regulate breathing, improve sleep, and support growth. It’s also a good way for parents to bond with their baby and feel more confident caring for them.

For Houston dad Dorian Ojemen, holding his babies didn’t come easily at first. His twins, Silas and Simone, were born at 26 weeks on August 7, 2026, and admitted to the NICU at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, where they’re expected to stay for at least three more months.

Tiffany Ikwuagwu and Dorian Ojemen holding their newborn twins Silas and Simone with the help of a Skincubator | Source: instagram/parents

Because the babies were intubated and very small, holding them was difficult at first, according to Ojemen’s wife, Tiffany Ikwuagwu.

Ojemen had his own reservations, too. “I had a lot of fear, and I was hesitant to even want to pick them up and do skin-to-skin because I felt I was gonna mess something up and then derail the whole NICU progress,” he told Parents.

Then the hospital offered the Skincubator, a wearable, non-electrical device invented in Israel that lets premature babies have skin-to-skin contact right away and for longer stretches.

So how does it work? Doctors place a clear plastic dome over the baby, secure them, and transfer them to a parent. A pad beneath the baby pulls back so their skin can rest against the parent’s.

He also realized that as a father, “You can provide something,” adding, “Maybe a dad can be pleasantly surprised at how you can bond with a baby...It makes it to where your importance can be felt earlier, even when you feel like you’re not important.”

While the Skincubator has received FDA breakthrough device designation, it’s still part of a clinical trial, and it may take a while before it reaches other families across the country. According to Dr. Ruggiero, parents who’ve participated in the trial have expressed relief and more confidence.