The neutral temperature of very low-birth-weight infants.

Recently, guidelines for perinatal care were published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.1 In a chapter on thermoregulation of newborn infants, recommendations for the neutral temperature of newborn infants are given. These recommendations are based on studies done more than 15 years ago.2,3 Although most of the recommendations are still valid, the values given for very low-birth-weight infants during the first week of life might need reconsideration based on more recent studies. In the original studies, infants were grouped by birth weight and not by gestational age. The group called the smaller prematures had a mean birth weight of 1,276 g; all weighed less than 1,500 g.