Infant Warmers

Many infants struggle to maintain body heat, even when ambient temperatures are high. Core and skin temperature can decrease by as much as 0.1˚ to 0.3˚ per minute following delivery as the infant moves from the warm, moist uterine environment to a cool, dry delivery room and amniotic fluid evaporates from the skin.

Prolonged hypothermia, defined as core body temperature of under 36˚, can result in hypoxia and hypoglycemia and cause severe organ damage and death. Maintaining temperature is particularly important for preterm infants, who have less fat for insulation, lower glycogen stores, poor vascular control and immature skin.

For over half a century, reducing heat loss has been a focus of neonatal care and has resulted in significantly improved survival rates. The improvement has been especially significant for preterm infants.

Infant warmers are the primary means of preventing hypothermia. In full term infants, warmers are used during transport or for just a few hours following birth. For preterm infants, an incubator may be used over the course of weeks or months.

A variety of heating technologies are typically utilized to keep infants warm—starting with low-tech hats and blankets. Incubators are used to heat the air around a infant, while radiant warmers use an overhead heat lamp to warm the infant directly. Heated mattresses continuously warm the surface under the baby. Thermal mass devices store and release heat to maintain constant temperatures over time.

In neonatal intensive care units, sophisticated incubators monitor vital signs and automatically control humidity as well as temperature. Many integrate phototherapy lights for treatment of high bilirubin counts. While incubators are extremely successful at preventing hypothermia, long term use makes bonding and breastfeeding difficult.

Lower-cost radiant warmers have been successfully used for full-term infants and in hospitals with poorer resources, for preterm infants as well. Dehydration is a particular concern when radiant heaters are used for premature infants, whose skin is more permeable.

Infant warmers range in cost from a few hundred dollars for new radiant warmers to upwards of $10,000 for a high end warming system. Leading medical equipment providers, including GE Medical Equipment, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Ohmeda and Olympic Medical Corp, offer a range of incubators and warmers. Recently, a number of Indian and Chinese providers have developed low-cost warmers that are suitable for low-resource environments. Many refurbished infant warmers and incubators are available on the used medical equipment market.