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when the lactation nurse madeher sceduled round to my place i asked about thermometers and she said that the ear thermometers can made inaccurate sometimes and that to get the most accurate reading is to take it rectally. i'm not talking about on urself of course! LOL but on ur baby.

I was always told to take off babys clothes, wait about 3-4 minutes then take the temperature from under the arm pit. Its the most accurate reading.

I was told by my pediatrician and in the hospitals (and in the book what to expect the first year) that if you take the temperature under the arm pit you always have to add one degree to it.And that should be the temperature.But indeed,rectally is the most accurate.I do the under the armpit though.

I don't think I could ever bring myself to take his temp rectally. How not fun! I have not ever taken my son's temp, because I have never thought he had a fever. But I suppose I would do it under the arm. But I do have an ear one too. Never used it though yet.

The ear thermometer is the most inaccurate thermometer there is.I bought one for me and DH and I take 6 readings,3 in each ear and they are all different.It's a waste of money.And also they say not to use them on babies under certain age.The package will tell you as of what age to use it.They have one in a pacifier and i think that one you can use it as of 4 months.But I like the arm pit reading.Like I said just add one degree to it.To Rachael mommy2lucas;I know,I could not bring myself to take his temp rectally either.LOL.

Our pediatrician told us that we couldn't call his office about a fever until we had taken our daughter's temp rectally. We had a different doc when our older girl was an infant, and the armpit temp was always good enough for them...So anyhow, I have taken my daughter's temp rectally and it's not as awful as you might think. I bought a thermometer with a flexible tip and an insertion guide mark for that purpose. It is the last resort, though...I take her temperature under the arm, and if it's higher than normal I will take the rectal temp. The ear thermometer doesn't seem to work on babies, I think their ear ca___ls are too short at first.

when my daughter had a fever during one of her checkups, the nurse took the temperature twice with the ear thermometer, and both times the reading was drastically different. I suggested we try it rectally and (with the temp adjustment because it was rectal), the rectal one was more accurate - the ear one was a lot off. i don't mind doing rectal temps with a digital - they're a lot quicker!

Thank you ladies. I didn't mention rectal because I was secretly hoping that there were other options. But accuracy is important, so I'll try the under the arm for ok situations and goo for the rectal when I have to.

I've only taken Nadya's temperature under her arm. I do worry how accurate it is though, because she wriggles about when I do it. I can't bring myself to take it rectally. It looks too big, and I worry it'll hurt her.

The flexible tipped thermometer I bought for rectal use doesn't beep. You have to put your face up close to the display and see if the little F has stopped blinking. Considering where the thermometer is used, that's not good...I bought it because it said it would take a rectal temp in 30 seconds....Anyhow, make sure you get one that beeps when it's done.

I was actually thinking of asking this same question. At first we took our dd temp under her arm and she hated it so we went out and bought an ear one-BIG mistake b/c she hates that even more so one day I decided to do it rectally and it didn't bother her at all. And the fact that its most accurate is good too.

I watched my mom take my siblings temperature for years rectally and told myself that I would never do it to my kids. I had to check my son that way after his 2mo vaccinations. My husband looked at me with disgust bc he felt like my son's "manhood" was being taken away. And when he saw the vasaline, he had to leave the room. LOL!! Unfortunately, it is the best way. I think at a certain age you have to stop though. My cousins thought that her 3 yr old son had a fever and when she told him to come have his temp taken, he turned around, pulled down his underwear and bent over. At that point she realized that the ear thermometer would be just fine for him.

that story about the 3 year old bending over made me laugh outloud!!! what a hoot! :)

we have a flexible rectal thermometer too - the kind with the ridge gudie so you don't over insert it. we put some ky-jelly on it for lubrication and it works great. i just roll her over to one side, put the legs together, put the thermometer in and talk to her and try to distract her. only once has she pooped all over it! that was funny....and gross, of course. but mostly funny. i don't think it hurts them - just feels kinda weird.

that's supposed to be guide, not gudie.

TC-I'm also laughing outloud!! Too funny