How to Use a Thermometer

Video Transcript

"You're interested in knowing how to use a thermometer. First of all, you need to choose the right thermometer for your needs. In years past, the mercury thermometer was the gold standard. When I grew up, this was all we had. It has fallen out of favor, however, because mercury's a dangerous substance, and these thermometers are prone to break, which release that dangerous substance into your house. So what we've come with now are digital thermometers. This is a digital thermometer that can be used orally or rectally. There are also thermometers that can be used in your ear and on your forehead. The two most accurate are probably this digital oral or rectal thermometer, and the ones that can be used in your ear. The age of the person whose temperature you're going to take is important. If you're dealing with a baby, what you're going to do for the first several months is to take a rectal thermometer. So you turn the baby over, you'd have, of course, their diaper off, and you'd be holding them and soothing them. And you'd use a little lubricant -- KY jelly, something like that -- on the tip of the thermometer, and you would be inserting it into their rectum, according to directions -- probably a half to three-quarters of an inch -- and then turning the thermometer on and waiting for it to get done. That gives you an accurate reading. Rectal temperatures are a little higher than oral temperatures. You expect an average oral temperature at 98.6, and you'd add a degree for rectal. The other way to take a temperature, of course, that most of us are familiar with -- poor baby there, don't mind her -- is orally. So I'll demonstrate that. Now, what we do is we just turn thermometer on. I wait for it to blink, and I'm going to put it under my tongue -- all the way under. Did you hear that beep that says it's ready? And my temperature is 98.7, indicating that I'm very healthy. If you choose a different kind of thermometer, like an ear thermometer, just read the directions. That's appropriate as children get a little bit out of infancy. In several months of age, you might be able to start using a...an ear thermometer. And those are some tips and strategies. Of course, if the temperature is very high and stays that way, you want to conduct...contact your physician. Again, my name is Beverly Bitterman, health and wellness consultant, and I wish you good luck in choosing a good product."