A chilling thought for Christmas 2004: might the newborn Christ have been hypothermic?

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Townsville Hospital, Douglas, QLD. Tieh-Hee Koh, FRCPCH, Neonatologist; Marion R Koh, Mother. Reprints will not be available from the authors. Correspondence: Dr Tieh-Hee Koh, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Townsville Hospital, Douglas, QLD 4814. guan_koh@health.qld.gov.au hr us az nearby M C istmas for us this year will be the ual 20-minute ferry trip across the ure waters from Townsville to agnetic Island (known locally as “Maggie”), while being entertained by frolicking dolphins. On arrival we will head straight to Alma Bay, blessed with its golden sands, Dom Perignon-clear waters and vibrant coral reef. My wife and I, however, still cling to the nostalgic concept of Christmas bedecked with snow, a thundering fireplace, allergenic mistletoes, an inviting bowl of punch, and a real Christmas tree bought as a last-minute bargain in the Arctic cold of Newcastle upon Tyne. Temperatures at Christmas time in the northern hemisphere at any distance from the Equator are cold. Indeed, the temperature in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ has been argued to be about 7°C. As we are experienced in looking after sick newborn babies, we have been impressed every year by the fact that, in depictions of the nativity scene on Christmas cards we receive, the newborn Jesus is almost always naked. There is good evidence that maintaining a normal temperature is one of the basic tenets of newborn care. We therefore undertook a study to either confirm or refute our impression that the newborn Jesus was indeed not clothed at birth.