Heartbeat: Baby temperatures the focus with launch of Project Thermo

July 19, 2019

A new poster campaign is to be launched across the labour, antenatal and post-natal recovery wards following learnings attained over the course of 2018. It is hoped that the changes will help not only help keep babies safer and healthier but reduce admittance rate for newly born children.

The ‘Project Thermo’ posters are a joint project between maternity and the NNU following the result of a national programme of work initiated under patient safety to identify harm leading to term admission. ATAIN (Avoiding Term Admissions Into Neonatal units) has been focusing on the admission of term babies in neonatal unit due to low temperature.

“Babies can be susceptible to hypothermia after birth, which can lead to neonatal admission.” Explains Dr. Rabia Zahid of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, joined by Dr Ashwini Bilagi, Vikaranth Venugupalan and Nicola Robinson. “The idea of Project Thermo is checks and actions that reduce the chances of sepsis and respiratory distress by keeping a baby’s temperature in the normothermic range – which is between 36.5-37.50°C.”

Records show that 20 per cent of babies admitted to City Hospital’s neonatal unit with respiratory distress in 2018 had mild hypothermia.

Actions that are being promoted include having effective skin to skin between the baby and it’s mother, promptly adding a baby hat and covering any newborn to reduce heat loss and educating parents as to the potential risks.

The reduction of admissions also means that mother and baby avoid being separated which has additional important benefits.

“Mothers and babies have physiological and emotional need to be together especially in the hours and days following birth which is important for the physiological stability of the baby and the beginning of maternal infant interaction,” confirms Rabia. “Overwhelming evidence that separation of the baby and mother so soon after the birth interrupts the normal bonding process, which can have a profound and lasting effect on maternal mental health, breastfeeding and long term morbidity for mother and child care.”