Baby's brain 'chilled' to prevent damage

A mother yesterday thanked doctors for saving her newborn daughter by "chilling" the baby's brain for three days.

A mother yesterday thanked doctors for saving her newborn daughter by "chilling" the baby's brain for three days.

Olivia Templar underwent the procedure after she was starved of oxygen for 10 minutes during a traumatic birth at St Michael's Hospital, in Bristol, in the UK.

She was fitted with a head cap attached to a cooling machine to prevent her suffering brain damage or cerebral palsy.

Mother Nichola Templar (31), from Bristol, has launched a campaign to raise money for the technology to be used nationwide.

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She said: "We believe the cooling cap saved her from disability.

"I want every child to have this help. We want to do whatever we can for St Michael's," she said.

Baby Olivia, who has now received the all-clear by doctors, suffered problems after a bump to the head during birth.

A spokeswoman for United Bristol Healthcare Trust said the cooling system had become standard practice since St Michael's became the first hospital in the UK to use the technology in 1998.

Prof Marianne Thoresen, a paediatrician at St Michael's Hospital, was behind one of the research programmes that led to the development of the cooling cap.

The device used on Olivia pumped coolant into a plastic cap that subsequently kept the baby's head cool.

Prof Thoresen, who began working on the research in 1992, began piloting the methods on babies at St Michael's in 1998.