AXILLARY TEMPERATURE IN TRANSITIONAL NEWBORN-INFANTS BEFORE AND AFTERTUB BATH

Twenty healthy newborn infants (mean 38.4 weeks gestation and 3,294 g) were studied to compare axillary temperatures before and after a deep -water tub bath. The bath was given in the mother's room in a plastic bassinet filled with 5 to 51/2 inches of warm water. Mean time was 4.4 hours postbirth. Mean infant temperature was 98.2 degrees F (36.8 deg rees C) prebath and 98.0 degrees F (36.7 degrees C) postbath. Mean cha nge was -0.2 degrees F (-0.1 degrees C) and was not significantly diff erent. This significant absence of heat loss during tub baths suggests that infants need not be separated from their mothers and kept in nur series under infrared warmers to prevent heat loss during their first bath. (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company.