Thermal management in the care of sick neonates: a clinical appraisal.

The neonate's thermal stability is limited by a propensity for losing heat rather than an inability to generate it. The smaller the infant, the greater the expected thermal losses to the environment. The resultant vulnerability to hypothermia may diminish a sick infant's chances of survival. Radiant warmers and incubators are used in the nursery to regulate the infant's heat loss, yet each device has inherent advantages and disadvantages. By protecting the baby from air movement in the nursery and reducing insensible water loss to acceptable levels, plastic shields can eliminate the principal objections to prolonged use of radiant warmers for neonatal intensive care.