Purpose: It is known that kangaroo mother care is effective in maintaining a newborn’s body temperature, oxygen saturation, respiration and heart rates. To examine the effect of kangaroo mother care and skin-to-skin contact on infants’ body temperature, oxygen saturation, respiration and heart rates.Design and methods: The study is a systematic review and meta-analysis. Over the period 01.01.2015-30.11.2021, the Pubmed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Wiley Online Library, Taylor Francis Online electronic databases were scanned to search for studies published in the English language. The methodological quality of the articles was assessed using the modified Jadad Scale and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Effect size calculations were made with the fixed effect and random effect models.Results: The meta-analysis encompasses 13 studies and involves a total of 891 infants. It was found in the study that kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact interventions were effective in maintaining the infants’ body temperature regulation (p=0.000). It was also observed that following kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact, the infants’ heart rate slowed down (p=0.015) but oxygen saturation was higher (p=0.040). It was seen that kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact interventions did not affect the infants’ respiratory rate (p= 0.896). On the other hand, it was noted that after kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact, the infants’ respiratory rate decreased (p=0.047).Conclusion: It is seen that the kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact intervention was effective in terms of vital signs.Practice implication: Kangaroo mother care/skin-to-ski contact can be recommended for all neonates, and there is benefit in standardizing this approach.