Learn more: PMC Disclaimer | PMC Copyright Notice
Sleeping body temperatures in 3-4 month old infants.
Abstract
Rectal, skin, and ambient temperatures were continuously recorded overnight from 3-4 month old normal infants in their home cots under conditions of room temperature and wrapping chosen freely by parents. It was found that rectal temperature was above 37 degrees C when infants were put down, but fell rapidly to 36.4 degrees C within one and a half hours, then stabilised for a few hours before rising steadily. This pattern was tied more closely to the time of putting down than time of day. The extent and rate of temperature fall did not correlate with any feature of the thermal environment. We also found that skin temperature changed much less than rectal temperature over the night, and for the first two hours in the cot there was no relation between skin and rectal temperature. There is therefore a well organised, endogenous rhythm of temperature in 4 month old infants.
Full text
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (555K), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References.
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- HELLBRUEGGE T, LANGE JE, STEHR K, RUTENFRANZ J. CIRCADIAN PERIODICITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1964 Sep 10;117:361–373. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mills JN. Developement of circadian rhythms in infancy. Chronobiologia. 1975 Oct-Dec;2(4):363–371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sunderland R, Emery JL. Febrile convulsions and cot death. Lancet. 1981 Jul 25;2(8239):176–178. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stanton AN. Sudden infant death. Overheating and cot death. Lancet. 1984 Nov 24;2(8413):1199–1201. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wailoo MP, Petersen SA, Whittaker H, Goodenough P. The thermal environment in which 3-4 month old infants sleep at home. Arch Dis Child. 1989 Apr;64(4):600–604. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]