A Randomized Comparison: Two Methods of Temperature Management in Full-term Newborns

[[abstract]]Neonatal hypothermia has been associated with infection, abnormal coagulation, post-delivery acidosis, delayed readjustment from fetal to neonatal circulation, and increased mortality rates [1, 2]. Preventing hypothermia is important in newborn care, and incubators or radiant warmers are commonly used to maintain normal body temperature. Stable body temperature facilitates initiation of breast-feeding during the first 24 hours of life. Our study was designed to compare two methods of thermoregulation in newborns. A total of 240 healthy newborns were selected and randomly divided into two groups. Babies in both groups were bathed; after bathing the study group babies were wrapped with two dry warm towels, while the control group babies received incubator care and were wrapped with two dry warm towels after two successive rectal temperature measurements were above 37°C. The rectal temperatures of all newborns at 3, 6, and 9 hours were recorded. None of the newborns had hypothermia during this study. The study group showed significant efficiencies of rectal temperature at 6 and 9 hours. We concluded that wrapping with two dry warm towels were sufficient to maintain stable temperature in healthy newborns and that incubator care may not be necessary for temperature management in newborns.[[notice]]補正完