High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Brain hypothermia, induced by cooling a baby to around 33°C for three days after birth, is a treatment for birth asphyxia. It has recently been proven to be the only medical intervention which reduces brain damage, and improves an infant`s chance of normal survival. Birth asphyxia, caused by a reduction in the supply of blood or oxygen to a baby`s brain during birth, is a major cause of death and brain damage, occurring in approximately 1 per 1000 births and causing around 20% of all cases of cerebral palsy.