ABOUT INFANT WARMER

 What is an infant warmer? 

An infant warmer is a key piece of equipment in neonatal intensive care units, aimed at providing the newborn with a comfortable thermal area that maintains its body temperature between 36 and 37 degrees. This is because when a baby is born from the mother’s womb, which is a natural incubator, it needs to be warmed up. Keeping a baby’s body temperature at normal levels is imperative for their health. If not, they may experience hypothermia, which would impair all their bodily and organic functions.

Infant warmers are used regularly in delivery rooms and neonatal care units to simultaneously provide external heat and open access to newborns. Immediately after birth, babies are routinely placed under warm, radiant light to help stabilize their temperature until they can achieve self-regulation. Monitoring and resuscitation can be easily performed from the open access of a radiant warmer, along with the necessary procedures. Infant warmers are also used for critically ill patients who require constant nursing intervention.

Infant warmers are typically heating units, consisting of a heat source, a skin temperature sensor, a servo control unit, and visual and audible alarms. The heating element generates radiant energy in the far IR wavelength region, but is limited to avoid thermal damage to the baby. Infrared energy is easily absorbed by the baby’s fragile skin, increasing blood flow to the skin and then transferring heat to the rest of the baby’s body by convection of blood and tissue conduction.

Since an infant warmer is open to air, evaporation is a major heat loss factor. Most infant warmers have short walls around the perimeter of the mattress to reduce the amount of air flow over the patient and thus limit evaporative heat loss.

Usually a radiant heat cradle is made up of three blocks

• Heat source
• Control unit
• Support platform

In this medical equipment the heat transfer is carried out mainly by thermal radiation; that is, the heat energy source is separated from the heat receptor and the heat receptor (heat) travels through the air in the form of electromagnetic waves.

The way a children’s warmer works and its structure facilitate quick access to the child and even observe it directly. At the same time they provide continuous heat to keep the baby’s temperature stable.

An infant warmer is an electromedical equipment on wheels controlled by a microcontroller. Normally manufactured in 3 blocks, the first is made up of incandescent lamps, diffusers and the heat source that can be ceramic, quartz or infrared light. On the other hand, there is the control unit, both of the manual heater and the servo controlled control and alarms. Finally, we have the platform, in which the Rx plate chassis holder, the mattress and others are displayed.

The crib is covered by removable, folding and transparent panels, and a panel with 3 cable glands. It allows to position it in two ways trendelenburg and reverse trendelenburg. It has a base with wheels, of which two have a braking system. It also includes a lamp for night light and one with white LED light for examination, among other components.