The following is a summary of “Effects of an early transfer from incubator to a warming crib in very low birth weight preterm infants,” published in the May 2024 issue of Pediatrics by Greve et al.

Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants necessitate postnatal care within incubators to mitigate the detrimental effects of hypothermia. However, scant data exist regarding the optimal timing for transitioning these infants to warming cribs. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the temperature and weight trajectories during a standardized transfer to a warming crib at a designated weight threshold.

Conducted as a prospective intervention study, this research focused on VLBW infants undergoing transfer from incubators to warming cribs upon reaching a weight between 1,500 g and 1,650 g.

Remarkably, no infant necessitated retransfer to an incubator. Hospital stays equaled those of a historical cohort from the preceding two years. Following transfer to warming cribs, infants in the intervention group exhibited enhanced oral feeding volumes the subsequent day, albeit without hastening the discontinuation of gavage feedings. Notably, compared to the historical cohort, infants in the intervention group attained earlier postmenstrual age and weight thresholds for transfer to unheated cribs.

Transitioning VLBW infants from incubators to warming cribs within the weight range of 1,500 g to 1,650 g proved to be both feasible and devoid of adverse short-term events or outcomes.

Source: bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-024-04795-y