The aim of the present study was to compare temperatures, metabolic adaptation and crying behavior in 50 healthy, full‐term, newborn infants who were randomized to be kept either skin‐to‐skin with the mother or next to the mother in a cot “separated”. The babies were studied during the first 90 min after birth. Axillary and skin temperatures were significantly higher in the skin‐to‐skin group; at 90 min after birth blood glucose was also significantly higher and the return towards zero of the negative base‐excess was more rapid as compared to the “separated” group. Babies kept in cots cried significantly more than those kept skin‐to‐skin with the mother. Keeping the baby skin‐to‐skin with the mother preserves energy and accelerates metabolic adaptation and may increase th