What should be done to prevent convective heat loss in premature infants?

To effectively prevent convective heat loss in premature infants, increasing the delivery room temperature is vital. Premature infants are particularly vulnerable to temperature fluctuations due to their low body fat and high surface area-to-volume ratio. Maintaining a warm environment helps to create a stable thermal environment, which is essential for their care and helps minimize the risk of hypothermia.

A warmer delivery room temperature reduces the gradient for heat loss to the environment, thus decreasing the potential for convective heat loss. Viewing the environment as a whole, it's important to provide a consistent and warm atmosphere, which in turn supports the infant's thermoregulation and overall health.

Other options may not adequately provide the protection needed against heat loss. For example, minimizing the use of incubators would increase exposure to cooler ambient temperatures. Open-air circulation can actually contribute to increased heat loss instead of mitigating it. Lastly, keeping the infant in direct sunlight is not a practical solution; it can lead to overheating rather than providing a controlled warm environment. Thus, increasing the delivery room temperature is the most effective measure to combat convective heat loss in premature infants.