Taking Your Child's Temperature

     I’ve discussed fever in previous articles but there is a lot of ground to cover because fever is the most common reason that parents bring their children to the doctor. In this article, I’ll discuss the various ways used to determine a child’s temperature and when you should take a temperature.

     There is everything from forehead tape to rectal thermometers available for parents to take their child’s temperature. But all the methods usually start when the parent just feels the child and finds that the child feels warm. Studies of nurses and pediatricians have shown that it is impossible for anyone to accurately estimate the height of a child’s fever (101 verses 104) by feeling the forehead. However, feeling the forehead is an accurate way to tell whether a child has a fever or not.  If a parent feels a child and thinks “he’s warm” – the child probably has a fever.

     If your child feels warm, use any of the methods available to confirm that the child has a fever. As I have mentioned before, the actual temperature isn’t very important. Whether it is 101 or 104, doesn’t make much difference.  You will hear people say that the higher the temperature, the more serious the disease, but a child can have a temperature of 104 with a mild viral illness and he can have a temperature of 101 with meningitis, so you can’t rely on the height of the temperature to tell you how sick the child is. (see the article “How to tell when a fever is dangerous”) People will also say that the higher the temperature, the greater the risk of fever seizure or brain damage. This is also not true.  Fever (“febrile”) seizures occur at any temperature and trying to keep the fever down does not prevent fever seizures (see the “Fever Seizures” article). Fever, at any number, does not cause brain damage.

     The most accurate way to take the temperature is with a standard, old mercury thermometer but digital thermometers are also very accurate. The best place to take the temperature is in the rectum. Infants and toddlers get fever more often than older children, so, to take a rectal temperature in this age group, place the child’s legs between your legs facing sideways towards your leg. Bring your legs together to hold the child’s legs and bend the child’s chest and abdomen sideways over your leg.  Place your arm gently on the child’s back and the child’s butt will be up in the air and wiggle-free for as long as you want. Keep the mercury thermometer in the rectum for as couple of minutes. Keep the digital thermometer in the rectum for the time stated in the directions.

     Once you know that a child has a fever, you only need to follow the fever pattern. Forehead tapes, ear thermometers or about anything will allow you to do that. Remember, it is the fever pattern and how ill the child is acting that tells you how serious the illness is – not the number of the temperature.