In this episode of the Lab, Daddy Clay talks to Nurse Gretchen about the different kinds of thermometers parents should use on their kids from infants to teens. DadLabs Ep. 611 is brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Daddy Brad: Today's hot topic is brought to you by BabyBjorn.
Daddy Clay: So to get the lowdown on rising baby temperatures, we spoke to our favorite nurse, Nurse Gretchen.
Daddy Clay: We're here with Nurse Gretchen. Gretchen, thanks so much for doing this.
Nurse Gretchen: Oh sure.
Daddy Clay: I know how much you love to be on camera.
Gretchen: Sure.
Daddy Clay: So, one of the words, one of the phrases I dread most in my parenthood is, "Does he feel warm to you?" When my wife hands me the baby and says, "Does he feel ..." because I'm not one, do you have thermometers in your hands? Can you do that?
Gretchen: Yeah, you kind of get that when you become a mom. As you take temperatures a lot, you can sort of say 103.1, 103.8.
Daddy Clay: What should we use to take the baby's temperature?
Gretchen: The cheapest way would be, just sort of, a really cheap Walgreen's digital thermometer. From any store really and they don't cost very much money, they're accurate, they're quick, and you can use it really anywhere in the body.
Daddy Clay: So by anywhere, you mean the mouth?
Gretchen: The mouth, the rectum, and axillary.
Daddy Clay: When it comes to taking temperature, one of the things that drove me crazy, in our house, we had one of these. What do you think about these guys?
Gretchen: Well, they're really good and this is really used to be the gold standard. It's very, very accurate. The problem is the mercury and the glass that present a danger so they've decided that the risk of that are far greater than the benefits of the accuracy. This is a temporal scanner so the idea is you go from the temporal area across the forehead, scan across the forehead to the other one, and it gives you a reading that's similar to a rectal temperature so it's gonna be a little bit higher. The thing about this one is it's very accurate if you use it correctly. If you don't use it correctly, it's not gonna give you very accurate readings so if there's a lot of wax in the ear, or if you don't get it in as far, it's not gonna be as accurate. So I recommend, if people have one of these to also take it with a rectal temperature or something they're really comfortable with and then they can cross-check until they get comfortable with the technique of this. This is what they use in the hospitals.
Daddy Clay: I recognize that one.
Gretchen: And there are rectal probes on these, but really, by the time they're using something like this, they can usually use the thermometer in their mouth. Usually, they say around 4 or 5 years old is when it's appropriate to do that although, there's many people who don't know how to do it. And if you can see right here, it shows exactly where they want you to put it.
Daddy Clay: When should we consult our doctor when it comes to fever.
Gretchen: Fever is normal and it's actually really important for the body to get rid of these diseases so seeing temperatures from 101 to 103 with viruses from 3 to 5 days is pretty normal. When you start to see them going higher than that, or lasting longer than that, that's when you want to consult with somebody because it may be a bacterial infection, may need antibiotics. But more important than the temperature is really, what does your kid look like? Temperature's only one way to check for a sick kid. Does your kid look sick? Are they acting sick? Are they acting like themselves?
Daddy Clay: Well that's lots of great information on taking your baby's temperature. Thanks a lot Nurse Gretchen.
Gretchen: Thanks.
Daddy Brad: Well, we'd like to thank our sponsor BabyBjorn.
Daddy Clay: Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next week right here in The Lab. So Daddy Brad, do you do rectal?
Daddy Brad: Oh yeah, you got to to be accurate dude.
Daddy Clay: You have to do the rectal.
Daddy Brad: The under the arm thing like that.
Daddy Clay: That's what I tried to get away with. My wife would say, "Take his temperature." I didn't want to do the rectal. I tried to put him, you hold him, and he squirms, it doesn't work right.
Daddy Brad: No you get like a low reading. Because you gotta know. You gotta know.
Daddy Clay: You have to do it. And it really doesn't bother them.
Daddy Brad: No.
Daddy Clay: The diaper change, you use a little lube, the baby hardly notices. They don't even cry. So get over your hesitance to do rectal.
Daddy Brad: That's what she said.