What s the deal with low body temperature in newborns? How should new parents cope?

It may be that the child's metabolism is relatively slow, or it may be that the outside temperature is too low, and you have not added clothes to the child in time. Pay attention to the child's body temperature in time, keep warm properly, and give the child warm water.

It may be caused by the relatively low temperature of the environment, or it may be caused by illness, so pay attention to keeping warm and checking your body.

Neonatal hypothermia may be caused by physiological causes, the neonatal thermoregulatory center is imperfectly developed, and it is susceptible to the influence of external temperature, if the external environmental temperature is low, it can lead to neonatal hypothermia. In addition, it may also be affected by pathological causes, such as thyroid dysfunction, infectious diseases, etc.

1. Physiological causes:

Newborns have a thermoregulatory center that is not fully developed, and the fat content on the body surface of the newborn is relatively small, the heat preservation ability is poor, and it is easily affected by the external temperature, resulting in low body temperature of the newborn. In particular, premature or low birth weight infants are more likely to have low body temperature due to lower body fat.

2. Pathological causes:

1. Thyroid dysfunction: some newborns have low body temperature, which may be due to the abnormality of thyroid function in newborns, such as congenital hypothyroidism, low basal metabolic rate and low thermogenesis of newborns, resulting in a drop in body temperature of newborns, and may be accompanied by symptoms such as unresponsiveness, loss of appetite, roughness, constipation, etc.;

2. Infectious diseases: If the newborn has a more serious infection, such as sepsis, sepsis, etc., it can lead to the phenomenon of shock in the newborn neonatum, and may also cause the microcirculation of the newborn to be disordered, and then there will be serious conditions such as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in the newborn, resulting in low body temperature in the newborn;

In addition, if the newborn has other diseases that can lead to a decrease in circulatory function or a decrease in thermogenesis, it can also cause the body temperature of the newborn to drop, and it is necessary to seek medical attention in time to prevent endangering the health of the newborn.

What is the neonatal hypothermia: physical causesThe common cause of neonatal hypothermia is the cause of one's own constitution.

Specific analysis:

1. The fat layer that can resist the cold has not yet been formed, but the blood vessels have spread all over the body, and the surface area is large, and the thickness of the epithelial layer is not enough to maintain the temperature, so it is not easy for the baby at this time to store finger heat;

2. On the other hand, the nerve center responsible for regulating body temperature in the baby's body has not been fully developed, so when the external temperature becomes low, and the mother does not make sufficient preparations for the baby to keep warm or the baby is lacking in heat, neonatal hypothermia will occur.

What's going on with neonatal hypothermia: not eating enoughThe glycogen stored in your baby's liver can be broken down for heat, but it can only last for a day at most.

Therefore, when this part of glycogen is consumed, the baby has not eaten enough, and the calorie supply cannot be guaranteed, which is easy to cause low temperature.

What's going on with neonatal hypothermia: disease effects

If the baby suffers from sepsis, brain transformation and other diseases that are highly susceptible to infection, the general appetite will be reduced, and the food cannot ensure sufficient calories**.

If the baby's brown fat decomposition is hindered due to shock, acidosis, etc., then the heat production will be insufficient, and low temperature will also be induced.

What's going on with neonatal hypothermia: changes in the external environmentSince the newborn baby is easy to dissipate heat, when the outside temperature drops below the moderate temperature;

If the warmth measures do not keep up, the child will not be able to maintain his normal body temperature, and the surface temperature will not even reach 35.

What's going on with neonatal hypothermia: insufficient oxygen** and imperfect nervous system

Newborn babies have a caloric "main production area" – brown fat, and brown fat breaks down fatty acids with two necessary conditions: adequate oxygen and a well-developed nervous system.

Therefore, if any of the conditions do not meet the requirements, the brown fat will not be able to decompose normally, and the baby will have insufficient heat production and low temperature.

Congenital hypothyroidism

Babies with this disease often develop hypothermia at 1 to 3 weeks after birth, accompanied by abnormal facial features (flat nose bridge, large eye distance, etc.).

If a medical test is performed, the thyroid function test results, related indicators such as iodine absorption rate, TSH, T4, etc., and X-rays will find abnormalities, and thyroxine can be used for this disease**.

Heavy infection

Sometimes severe infections can also cause hypothermia in babies, which can be diagnosed by testing to find the source of infection. Prolonged hypothermia is usually traceable to a history of infection.

The child has a high fever, and in the process of reducing fever**, it is easy to have hypothermia after the fever has been reduced. The reason for this situation is that the dose of antipyretic drugs is too large, or the combination of a variety of antipyretic drugs, especially the use of hormone drugs such as dexamethasone, etc., so that the body temperature drops too quickly, because in the process of body temperature drop, accompanied by a lot of sweating, take away the heat in the body, which will cause hypothermia, and some even collapse.

In this case, the following prevention and control measures can be taken:

1. Stop using antipyretic drugs, pay attention to keeping children warm, especially the hands and feet and other minor parts, adjust the indoor temperature, and place warm bags if necessary.

2. Give your child plenty of water or warm juice to replenish the water lost by sweating, and avoid eating raw and cold food or drinks.

3. Love to sweat when sleeping at night, pay attention to when the child begins to fall asleep, do not cover the quilt too much, and then cover the quilt after falling asleep.

Also, when taking your temperature, wipe off the sweat from your armpits.

Don't worry, after the above treatment and care, after a period of time, the body temperature will gradually return to normal.

If the body temperature is too low, first of all, dry the sweat, and then you can use a hot water bottle or electric blanket to keep warm, if it really can't go to the hospital.

How old is the child? Sweating after the fever subsides, sweat takes away the heat, the body surface temperature will be temporarily reduced, drink more warm water, dry towel to wipe the sweat on the body, the body temperature will be stable.

The baby's low body temperature should be judged whether it is long-term or temporary. Because the baby's thermoregulatory center is not fully developed, when the ambient temperature is low, it can cause transient hypothermia. If the baby is in a state of hypothermia for a long time, it may be caused by infection, metabolic diseases and other diseases, but it is generally not a precursor.

There may be some metabolic diseases, so I recommend that you do an endocrine check-up or a gastrointestinal check-up.

It may be caused by infection, metabolic diseases and other diseases, and hypothyroidism.