Heat losses from babies in incubators.

Relative Efficacy of Radiant and Convective Heat in Incubators in Producing Thermoneutrality for the Premature

“…The relative inferiority of the thermal environment produced by an open radiant warmer, therefore, is not due solely to the use of radiant energy as a heat source. The % heat loss radiant reported here for the convective incubators is similar to the % non-evaporative heat loss radiant reported by Wheldon and Rutter (25,26) and the earlier estimate of Hey and Mount (9).…”

“…Therefore, % heat loss radiant corresponds to the percentage of non-evaporative heat losses accountable by radiant losses reported by others (9,25,26).…”

Respiratory Metabolism in Preterm Infants: the Measurement of Oxygen Consumpton during Prolonged Periods

“…Postnatal age at the time of study ranged from 4 to 46 days. The infants were nursed in what was considered to be a thermoneutral environment (7). In 16 of the 18 infants, the ME was determined.…”

“…The measurement of oxygen consumption in neonates is useful in assessing the optimum environmental conditions in which to nurse them (4,(6)(7)(8)18), and in making calculations of their energy expenditure, which, in conjunction with nutritional balances, can be used to determine the composition of their growth (3,5,12,13,15). Many different techniques have been used to study respiratory metabolism (2, 9-1 1, 14, 16, 17, 19-2 1, 23) but all have the dual drawbacks of disturbing the infant's normal environment and of being limited to a maximum period of only a few hours.…”

A Double-Walled Incubator Alters the Partition of Body Heat Loss of Premature Infants

“…The temperature of the incubator walls, which determines radiant heat loss, is influenced by the temperatures of the air and walls of the nursery as well as the incubator air. Because nurseries are air-conditioned for the comfort of the staff, a small infant loses considerable heat by radiation to the relatively cool inner surfaces of the incubator, even though the air temperature in the incubator may be quite close to body temperature (16).…”