The effectiveness of using plastic wrap and cloth swaddle methods to increase the body temperature of low-birth-weight infants with hypothermia

Abstract

Hypothermia is a problem that LBW infants often experience. Hypothermia occurs because the baby's ability to maintain heat is minimal. It may be due to nonoptimal muscle growth, thin subcutis fat, little brown fat reserves, not yet optimal temperature-regulating nervous system, and the ratio of body surface area is relatively larger than body weight. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of plastic wrap and cloth swaddles methods in increasing the body temperature of LBW infants with hypothermia. The method used is a quasi-experimental approach with a two-group pre-posttest design. The sample in this study amounted to 30 infants, with 15 infants with plastic wrap intervention and 15 infants with cloth swaddling intervention, taken with accidental sampling technique. The results of the Wilcoxon test with α = 0.05 showed a p-value of 0.001 in the plastic wrap intervention group and a p-value of 0.001 in the cloth swaddling intervention. In the Mann-Whitney test with α = 0.05, the results obtained a p-value of 0.850. It was concluded that there was a significant difference between the temperature before and after the intervention of plastic wrap and cloth swaddle, which meant that there was an effect of using plastic wrap and cloth swaddling on the increase in body temperature of LBW infants with hypothermia. Using plastic wrap and cloth swaddles can increase the body temperature of LBW infants with hypothermia. There is no significant difference in the increase in LBW infants' temperatures given the plastic wrap intervention and the cloth swaddle intervention.