P7 rats (n=36) underwent unilateral cerebral hypoxia-ischemia and then received injections of saline (SAL+3hdHT, solid bars) or phenobarbital 40 mg/kg (PB+3hdHT, hatched bars), with normothermia for 3h, then 3h hypothermia (30°C incubator). Rats underwent bilateral vibrissae-stimulated forepaw placing testing (10 trials/side) weekly from P14 to P35. The phenobarbital-treated group had a sustained advantage over the controls for several weeks (*p<0.0001, repeated-measures ANOVA). There was a significant interaction (p<0.005) between group and testing age; performance of the SAL+3hdHT controls converged towards the PB+3hdHT group. Values are means ±standard deviations.