Objective To explore the effect of epidural analgesia for labor on maternal temperature and the newborns. Methods This randomized trial was performed in West China Second Hospital between December 2015 and July 2016. Fifty puerperants were randomly divided into epidural analgesia (EA) group (natural labor under EA, n=25) or the control group (natural labor using Ramaze breathing method, n=25). Maternal tympanic temperature was recorded once per hour after treating with painless labor or blank control. The serum interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) level were measured from the blood of the umbilical cord after the delivery. Apgar scores of the newborns were also recorded. Results There was a significant difference in the temperature between EA and control group one hour after the treatment of painless labor [ (36.9±0.7) and (36.4±0.5)℃]. The level of serum IL-1β and HSP70 were significantly higher in EA group [IL-1β: (0.308±0.036) ng/mL; HSP70: 1.175±0.196] than those in the control group [IL-1β: (0.244±0.031) ng/mL; HSP70: 0.935±0.308] (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was found in the neonatal Apgar score (P>0.05). Conclusions The increase of maternal temperature is greater in the EA labor puerperants compared with that in the controls, which may be related to the increase of IL-1β and HSP70. No adverse effect of labor analgesia on new borns is found