What's with the plastic wrap?

One of the strange sites a parent may see when they come in to the NICU is their child's warmer covered in plastic wrap. This raises many an eyebrow and one can't help but ask, what's with the plastic wrap? The reason is because many of the babies are very small and loose heat very quickly, even though the warmer produces heat, when a person walks by the baby can feel the breeze and is cooled very quickly. By placing plastic wrap across the warmer it keeps the heat in and breezes out. This does not suffocate the baby in anyway. So, if you walk in to an NICU and wonder, what's with the plastic wrap? Now, you know!


Reference:
Merenstein, G.B., Gardner, S.L. (2006). Handbook of Neonatal Intensive Care (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.