What kind of thermometer do/did you use?  

hi there dayzz25. i have no children yet but i've read that thermomethers that measure temperature from the forehead or ear are unreliable. according to new study the readings are generally lower than the core temperature when the body is under heat stress. the best reading is taken from under the tongue or armpit. if you are still suspicious, take a rectal temperature to confirm.

dayzz, the only thing I can suggest, is try the underarm again! Just put the thermometer under her arm, and just cuddle her in a little bearhug, where you can hold her arm down, and it holds the thermometer, you don't have to hold it!

I guess it depends on the age of the child. I prefer the regular oral ones for the older children. The 2 1/2 year old doesn't quite do well with it but I can talk him through it. For the baby I resort to using a rectal one. It's not nearly as bad as it sounds and there are cheap Thermometers that will get the job done very quickly. There is an ear thermometer here but I don't like using it. It never seems to cooperate and when I do get a reading it's always 96 or less so, obviously not acurate. I have read that rectal is the most accurate, oral is next with a reading of 1 degree below the actual temperature on average, while the ear readings average 2 degrees below the actual temperature. But since that's only an average it could be off by more than 2 degrees and that can make a big difference...if the ear thermometer gave a reading of 101.5 you might not worry too much when in fact your child's temperature was actually 104. And that's a scary thought.

My children are all grown up now and 2 of them have children of their own. I always used rectal on them when they were babies then graduated to oral, mouth. My daughters both had the ear and also oral as a backup. My grandson was a baby, too young to have a temperature the doctor's said, he was very warm about 4am one morning. We had not thermometer for him at that time and not fever reducer. My daugther went to Wal-Mart to get some tylenol for him. We watched him until the doctor's office opened and took him in. They took his temp by ear then they used the rectal. The nurse said they both read pretty much the same but it was so high she wanted to make sure the ear thermometer was not wrong. We had to take him to the hospital, ended up he had viral menigitis at the age of 1 month. The doctor said it was good we give him the tylenol to get the fever down, only problem it didn't stay down and break because of the virus he had. He did make a full recovery and is a very handome 10 year old today. Hey, grandma's gotta brag. LOL

I have always used a rectal themometer, but now my daughter she is 2 and to old for that so i use under the arm or ear.. i know that u are suppose to add or subtract a degreee when using them(arm/ear) but i dont know wich one it is. prob might wanna check with your pediatrician about that:)

I used a digital thermometer that I stuck under the arm. I know it sucks to make them sit there long enough to get the temp, but I think they are the ones that work the best are are most accurate unless you spend a hundred dollards on a good ear one like the hospital has.

My pediatrician told me that rectal is the only reliable way until a child is old enough to do it orally. Ear Thermometers especially are not accurate, she said. I found a rectal thermometer that takes only about 5 seconds at the drug store. It is hard as they get a little older because they move so much, but I usually have my husband, if he is home, play with my son and distract him while I take his temperature. It has gotten so much easier with the 5 second thermometer. I would say that probably by about age 2 a child could sit still for it to be taken orally. I will probably get another of the same thermometer so it will be quick when my son gets older.

We bought an ear thermometer too and it doesn't work too accurately if our son doesn't stay still long enough for it to beep twice. If you have the sameone we got, there's a beep, then a few seconds later there's another one, and that's the one that is the accurate one. Anyhow, it's a pain in the butt to get his temp. I thought about getting the ones that you stick to their forehead, but I wonder how accurate they are, know what I mean?

I know exactly what you mean, I bought an ear thermometer as well and I find that every time I use it, even if it is twice in a row, I get two completly different answers. I found a under arm thermometer that only takes about 10 seconds, if you can hold your little one down for that long, I find that it really worked well.
You can get this theremometer anywhere like in walmart or in any drug store. It is always something that you can give a try.

I use an ear thermometer as well and I have found it to be awesome :) My daughter won't sit through a thermometer check under her arm either, so I finally bought an ear one and I have found mine to be accurate. You could take it in with you at an appt. and double check it with what the hospital/clinic's say-- that's what I did to make sure that it was working properly. As for the head thermom. I'm not sure where you can buy them--- I assume just type it in on-line and it would bring some up for you, otherwise talk to your Dr. and see if he can recommend one to you. Good luck.