How to Choose The Best Baby Thermometer: A Parent’s Guide

Parents care a lot for their babies and look for the best products for them. There are certain things that parents must have, for the baby’s care. Thermometer is one of them. Few years back, parents were not able to have a check on their baby’s health… a lot have changed.

Now advance and qualitative technology made the parents to have proper care of the baby. Gone are the days, when we had to rely on doctors for just having check on the baby’s temperature. Now a days, there are many type of baby thermometers that can be used by the parents in order to have a check on their baby’s health. New technology like infrared, is easier in use, reliable and accurate in term of measurements.

As we are more focused on the parents’ guide for choosing the best thermometer, so we will be clearing the confusions and will give you the best concepts related to thermometer.

There are many brands of thermometer, each one have many further types. Each one have different specs, features and price tag as well. There are thermometers available in the market that are cheap, but are not reliable. On the other, some brands are selling high price thermometers, but their thermometers don’t give accurate results. So I am briefing here the factors, which parents must go through in order to choosing the best for their home use.

• Accuracy/Precision:

Accuracy is the factor that should never be overlooked. As you know, few degree of Celsius or Fahrenheit decide the fever of your baby. So never neglect this, even you have to pay some extra bucks to get the most accurate thermometer.

Then, what should be the accuracy range for a thermometer? That’s a cool question. Now a days best accurate thermometers are the ones having their accuracy range between 0.3 to 0.6 centigrade. This range of precision is alright, while if the brand is claiming somewhat low accuracy, then don’t go for that one.

Besides, rectal thermometers are considered more accurate then forehead thermometer. The reason is obvious, forehead thermometers are based on infrared technology, while rectal thermometers measure the temperature by direct contact. While for adults, it is fine to use forehead thermometer.

• Different Type:

If you are the one, who never read about thermometers, or never bought the one for its family, then you would not be familiar with different types of baby thermometers. But here I will be explaining you all the info that you needed.

There are different types of thermometers, each one having different specs and usage. These types are forehead, ear, armpit, oral and rectal. Some are being called by synonymous names like, forehead is also called temporal.

Rectal thermometers are the best one in term of accuracy, but we can’t use them for adults. So these are recommended for the babies below 3 month of age. Axillary and oral type are very common is use in different hospitals, these are recommended for age group above 5 years. While forehead and ear thermometers can be used for all age groups. So, if you are looking for the thermometer that should fit for whole family, than forehead thermometer that is based on infrared technology, will be considered best for you. A lot of best forehead thermometers are available in the market that can be used for whole family, even these thermometers can be used to measure the temperature of the room, baby’s food and water as well.

• Safety and Precautions:

You are surprised to see the safety factor listed there. But believe me it is equally important as the other ones. The old thermometers, based upon mercury were abandoned in most of the hospitals due to their toxicity and danger, in case broken while usage. Now a days clinical staffs don’t use them even for axillary temperature measurement, because of its difficulty in reading the measurements. You should avoid the mercury thermometer, as those are not accurate and reliable as well.

Here I want to cover the precautions related to baby thermometers. In case you are going with forehead thermometer, then you must make sure that its head is clean. Otherwise it measures the temperature of other things sticking to it, like dirt, sweat etc. In case you are getting the rectal thermometer for your new born baby, then choose the one with broad base and flexible tip. So that baby is not hurt while measurement and you can hold it better. In case of ear thermometer, don’t make much pressure on the ear canal.

I cannot cover all the precautions, but I would suggest you to read the precautions that are written on the patent.

• Time Required

Time required for measuring the temperature is also a critical feature to look into thermometer. One must be thinking that, it is fine to wait for one to three minutes for checking the baby thermometer. But I would say, it is not the practical approach. Assume for a second, sick babies crying all the time and don’t stay still in order to give you few moments to measure the temperature. In the past clinical staff were getting the rough idea of temperature. But now a days, we can measure the temperature within fraction of second. Forehead thermometers need just to swipe through the forehead, and you will hear the beep within one second. That’s it, measurement is taken. Same goes with ear and rectal thermometer, you don’t have to wait much for taking temperature. But beware, make sure other features are also equally emphasized.

• Reliability:

It is in human nature to look for the room for improvement. In this case, parents demanded various features to be included in the baby thermometer. So did the brands, as they have to market their product. One factor of reliability is ease of use. While, for night use, backlit LEDs are used in new thermometers, so that parent don’t have to switch on the lights, to disturb a sleeping baby in order to have a check on its temperature.

There are many other reliability factors, as storage of previous temperature histories, battery timing, silent mode for night use and a lot more expected to come in future.