All parents will be faced with the unfortunate situation of having a sick kid. In the latest installment of Survivor Dad, stay at home dad Nathan offers a few suggestions on items to have on hand when you have a sick baby. They include Tylenol, a digital thermometer, a snotsucker, ear plugs and more. He also reveals the differences between oral, rectal, ear, and axillary temperatures when trying to determine if your baby has a fever. Survivor Dad Ep. 5. DadLabs Ep. 734.

Survivor Dad: Babies don't come with manuals or user references for when they're feeling ill. That's why we have our doctors. But as a parent, you are the first responder in a sense. So it should be fairly obvious to you when your little one is feeling down. Their attitude and routines are gonna change rather abruptly. There's gonna be enough mucus to make a snail jealous. There's some items you're gonna want to keep on hand for that inevitable first, second or even fifteenth illness. Tylenol or other fever reducing drops in a dosage recommended by your doctor.  A digital thermometer for obvious reasons. Saline nose spray helps break up the clogged nose. A suction bulb or a Snotsucker which is also pretty self explanatory. Earplugs. When you're trying to rock a crying feverish baby to sleep, these can really help cut the shrill down. An old t-shirt and pants, because when the snot is flowing, the last thing you want to do is wear something that you actually like and having it get slimed. When you go to take junior's temperature, you're gonna want to go the rectal route or under the armpit for the first several years because toddlers and infants have a hard time holding a thermometer under their tongue long enough to get an accurate reading. There's a few things that you're gonna want to take note. Using an oral temperature reading of 98.6 as a baseline, a rectal temperature is going to run approximately a half to a full degree higher than that oral temperature. An ear or tympanic temperature is gonna run a half to a degree higher than an oral temperature. And an armpit or axillary temperature is usually a half degree to a full degree lower than the oral temperature. I usually need a little bit of help holding him down when I take his temperature. He can be awfully squirmy and you can understand the discomfort. As a stay at home parent, I get to deal with him all day and all night. My wife obviously needs to sleep so she can go to work the next day. But I keep my earplugs handy for those fever induced bouts of crying. I follow all the pediatrician suggestions. And I make sure to try to sleep when he does. It's been a long week but we're definitely on the mend. He's down for a nap now, so I'm gonna try and catch some shuteye.