The conversation on artificial vs. natural (i.e. mother's chest"
warming techniques for babies has been very interesting. I have never
quite understood why a baby just born needs a bath and why they need
to be warmed in a warmer.
  When my, now 7 yar old son was born, he was full term bu 4.5 lb and
is still quite small and thin. to this day, he gets cold very easily
because he does not have the body fat to keep him warm. When he
was a baby, I noticed that on frequent occasions he would want to
nurse for the sole purpose of warming  himself up. It was clear that
he was not hungry and did not need other comforting, but his hands, arms
or feed were cold. As he nursed I could feel them warm up and when
they got to the right temp. he was happy to stop nursing
and continue with whatever activity he had been engaged in before
he got cold.
  My 21 month old now often does thesame thing. He is not as thin and
does not get cold quite as easily, but he was also born at 4.5 lb
(6 weeks early) and he still nurses to warm up.
  I did not find this pattern with my older two kids who were born
term and dates and weight, but a sample of 4 is not a very big statistical
sample.
  has anyone else had this experience of kids consciously using nursing
as a warmer? My 7 yar old nursed till he was just over three, so
he was doing this when he was old enough to be very aware of what he
was doing.
  Naomi Bar-Yam