PREVENTING EXCESSIVE POSTNATAL WEIGHT LOSS IN HEALTHY NEW-BORNS. WILL CONTINUOUS TEMPERATURE MONITORING HELP?

Abstract

Objective: To study if continuous temperature monitoring helps to prevent excessive postnatal weight loss in healthy newborns during hospital stay.

Design: Prospective randomised controlled trial

Setting: Postnatal ward of a tertiary level hospital in south-west India, between July 2018 and October 2018.

Participants: 515 healthy newborns born in the hospital during the study.

Intervention: Mothers were given the BEMPU device within 24 hours of delivery and  taught to recognize alarms and take measures to treat hypothermia when the device alarmed till the baby was discharged from the hospital. All healthy newborns born in the hospital were included in the study and random allocation was done to either the intervention or control group.  Babies who were sick and admitted in NICU and babies with congenital anomalies were excluded. 

IEC approval was obtained prior to the study. 

Outcome measures: postnatal weight loss.

Results:  515 babies were included in the analysis.  For vaginal deliveries; 163 babies were in the intervention group and 168 were in the control group. The mean lowest weight was higher and the mean weight loss was lower for the intervention group. For caesarean deliveries, 91 babies were in the intervention and 93 were in the control groups. The mean lowest weight was higher and the mean weight loss was lower for the intervention group for cesarean deliveries as well.

Conclusions: Continuous monitoring of the temperature helps to prevent excessive postnatal weight loss in healthy babies born by spontaneous vaginal deliveries.

Keywords: Hypothermia, Newborn, Temperature, Weight loss