I think really the question is why mothers are becoming that cold during C-sections in the first place.  It is clear that even mild hypothermia intra- and post-op can be problematic, causing changes in enzymatic action, changing metabolism of medications, potentially increasing the risk of infection and bleeding, enormously increasing oxygen consumption when shivering occurs, etc etc.  Operating rooms are kept cold *for surgeon and staff member comfort* ONLY.  Realistically, in this situation being described, efforts should focus on keeping mom warm intra-op.

That being said, using Bair Huggers in neonates and infants is our standard of care in our attempts to maintain normothermia intra-operatively.  The highest setting on them is 43 degrees, which should not be a danger in terms of burns to patients as long as they are being used appropriately.  I am not sure how comfortable moms will be using a Bair Hugger device unless it is the expensive "gown" type, as the other "blankets" are cumbersome when inflated/used and I have a hard time envisioning how that would work in a mother who is awake and trying to hold/nurse her baby.  Typically we won't even use a Bair Hugger in the post-op period unless a patient is significantly hypothermic to a degree that it is causing hemodynamic or hemostatic instability.

There is no contraindication to a neonate being under a forced air warmer like this (I use them everyday for infants undergoing anesthesia) but I would advocate for prevention of the hypothermic temps in moms in the first place, rather than trying to play "catch up" afterwards.  I don't think that a few degrees lowering of skin temp in mom would preclude the practice of skin-to-skin contact, even without a Bair Hugger or active warming system in place.

And there are really no credible concerns over Bair Huggers being an infectious risk, unless you talk to one of our neurosurgeons at my institution who feels otherwise....

Sarah Reece-Stremtan M.D. (pediatric anesthesiologist who recently revamped our perioperative neonatal hypothermia prevention guidelines)

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