The effect of bather and location of first bath on maintaining thermal stability in newborns

To compare thermal stability during the first bath of newborns bathed by maternal-child nurses in a newborn nursery with thermal stability of newborns bathed by parents at the maternal bedside.

A randomized clinical controlled trial.

A tertiary care hospital in western Canada.

Participants (N = 111) were full-term newborns born vaginally.

The experimental treatment was the parent bathing the newborn under nursing supervision at the bedside in the first few hours of birth; the standard treatment was a nurse bathing the newborn in an admission nursery.

The main outcome measure was newborn heat loss occurring from bathing as assessed by changes in aural temperatures, which were taken before, during, and following bathing.

There was no difference in temperature change between newborns bathed by a nurse and those bathed by a parent (F = 0.595, df = 1, p = .442). A return to normal thermal ranges takes approximately an hour.

Heat loss experienced by newborns during bathing is significant and is not associated with who bathes the newborn or where the bath takes place.