What kind of thermometer do/did you use?

@dayzz25 (552)
United States
December 2, 2007 10:19pm CST
I bought an ear thermometer to use on my daughter. I figured it would be easier and more accurate but I don't think it is. I always get a low number so I will try again and get a totally different number. She hates sitting still long enough for me to check her temp under her arm. I've looked for the kinds you can stick on children's forehead and I can't find them anywhere. What kind of thermometer do/did you use on your children?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@musicman6 (2406)
• United States
3 Dec 07
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!
2 people like this
• United States
3 Dec 07
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:)
@gapeach65 (805)
• United States
5 Dec 07
My children didn't want me putting anything on their foreheads, that they couldn't see, so I went with the digital thermometer and while holding them, held it under their arm, that gave me the most accurate result. Just recently, I noticed, my doctor has a thermometer that they run across your forehead (like a they are scanning you for a price), it takes a second and they have the results. You may want to check into something like that (I don't know if they're available to the public, but it wouldn't hurt to check). Just a tip, if you aren't already, which you probably are, if you want to retake the temperature, make sure the thermometer has completely reached room temperature before trying again, or it may still be heated from the previous attempt. Good luck with your beautiful baby girl, I hope this helped.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
3 Dec 07
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.
1 person likes this
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
3 Dec 07
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
1 person likes this
• Philippines
3 Dec 07
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.
1 person likes this
• United States
4 Dec 07
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.
@nica269 (1395)
• United States
3 Dec 07
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?