Final answer:
Right after birth, an infant should be dried and placed either skin to skin with the mother under a warm blanket or in a radiant warmer to promote thermoregulation. This supports the newborn's ability to generate heat through nonshivering thermogenesis from their brown adipose tissue.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the first minute after birth, the infant should either be quickly dried and placed skin to skin with the mother under a warm blanket or put in a radiant warmer. This practice is crucial for promoting thermoregulation and comfort. The newborn possesses unique nonshivering thermogenesis, which involves the breakdown of brown adipose tissue that acts as the newborn's primary source of insulation. Additionally, this process generates heat to maintain body temperature. Placing the newborn skin to skin with the mother or in a radiant warmer also supports this natural heating mechanism.
Newborns are adept at sensing touch, so being held close provides comfort and may facilitate a positive response in their vital signs, like skin color and heart rate, aspects graded in the five criteria assessed after birth. Lines with milk-secreting lactocytes, and by creating colostrum.
The radiant warmer is an example of the zeroth law of thermodynamics ensuring the infant is in thermal equilibrium with the environment, mirroring the regulated temperatures that incubators provide to prematurely born or sick newborns in neonatal intensive-care units.