CHEST SKIN TEMPERATURE OF MOTHERS OF TERM AND PRETERM INFANTS IS HIGHER THAN THAT OF MEN AND WOMEN. 1155:

During skin-to-skin (kangaroo) care the skin temperature of the parent's chest is the only external heat source for the infant. Question. Have mothers a different chest skin temperature than men and women?Methods. Skin temperature was measured with 3 temperature probes(Hewlett Packard) covered with insulating polyethylene foam on the lower third of the sternum and 2cm to the left and right. Chest skin temperature was the mean of these 3 temperatures. Subjects were measured between 15 and 18 o'clock, wearing light clothing in a room with 23-24°C. Subjects with abnormal axillary temperatures or mothers with mastitis were excluded.Results. We measured 10 mothers (26-32 y) of term, 10 mothers(25-31y) of preterm infants, 10 women (22-29y), and 10 men (24-36y). Chest skin temperature of mothers increased with postnatal age and was significantly higher than in men and women from day 2. Axillary temperatures were the same in all groups and did not change with postnatal age. Conclusions. Chest skin temperature of mothers is 1° C higher than in men. Previously neonatal body temperatures were measured only during skin-to-skin contact with the mother and it is not known, if the lower skin temperature of men results in lower neonatal temperatures during skin-to-skin contact with fathers.Figure