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A newborn's first bath: when?
1Maternal-Child Unit, St. Martha's Regional Hospital, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Objective:
To determine the effects of early admission bathing on thermoregulation in newborns.
Design:
Randomized, comparative study.
Setting:
A regional hospital providing primary and secondary newborn care.
Participants:
One hundred healthy, full-term newborns.
Interventions:
Newborns in the investigational group with a minimum rectal temperature of 36.5 degrees C. were bathed after the newborn admission assessment examination was completed (M = 61.15 minutes of age), whereas newborns in the control group were bathed at the standard of 4 hours of age (M = 252.12 minutes of age).
Main Outcome Measure:
Rectal temperatures were measured using a Diatek thermometer. Rectal temperatures were recorded during the newborn admission assessment examination, immediately before bathing, immediately after bathing, 1 hour after bathing, and 2 hours after bathing.
Results:
No significant differences (p < .05) in rectal temperatures, were found between the groups during the admission assessment examination, before bathing, immediately after bathing, 1 hour after bathing, or 2 hours after bathing. No significant differences were found between the groups in type of delivery, time of birth, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes, air temperature, apical heart rate, or respiratory rate.
Conclusions:
Healthy, full-term newborns whose rectal temperatures are greater than 36.5 degrees C can be bathed immediately after the admission assessment examination.