Early mother-infant contact and infant temperature stabilization.

Thirty-four healthy mother-infant dyads were divided into two groups to determine the effect of postdelivery skin-to-skin contact on infant temperature stabilization. Nineteen control infants were placed in heated cribs, while 15 study infants were given immediate and extended physical contract with their mothers. Axillary and rectal temperatures were measured five minutes after birth and one hour after the infants left the delivery room. The results indicate that separating normal newborns from their mothers for the purpose of stabilizing temperature may not be necessary.