When a child is healthy, the fever he is suffering from may not easily indicate if there is anything serious. Mostly, the temperature level during a fever does not indicate the seriousness of his illness. A high fever can be a result of just an infection of a mild level. Sometimes the infection may be of high level but presence of fever can’t even be felt at all. This kind of fever may not hurt the child but can be the cause of him being distressed and also result in dehydration.

It might be a difficult job to take your child temperature at times. One must be properly acquainted with the proper methods of taking a proper reading in an easy and a correct manner. The methods of determining the temperatures reading completely depends on the age of the child. There can be different ways of taking the reading and from different parts of the body.

Methods of taking the Reading

• Rectal Method
• Oral method
• Auxiliary method
• Temporal method
• Tympanic method

Rectal Method is a reliable method of ensuring that one does not miss a reading. It includes the method of placing the cleaned thermometer in his rectum with the help of one’s fingers. One needs to take the reading for at least about 1 minute. In Oral method the thermometer is firstly cleaned and then placed under the child’s tongue. It requires that the child keeps his mouth closed for the required amount of time in order to take the reading. In young children’s or the infants another method used is Axillary method for the reading. IN this method the thermometer is placed in the middle of the armpit. The axillary method may not be as accurate as the Oral and the rectal methods. Tympanic method or also known as the ear method is also not into as much consideration as the rectal and oral methods are. A probe is used for this method which should be properly cleaned before the use. The thermometer is placed inside the ear canal making sure that the opening is completely sealed while the thermometer is inside. The temporal method also termed as the forehead method uses the temperature band which is cleaned before the used. The band is placed on the forehead for at least a minute. Out of all the methods the oral method and the rectal method are considered as the most effective.

There is a range of normal temperature depending upon the methods used.

For rectum this range is in between 36 and 38 whereas in case of mouth this range varies from 35 to 37.5. In case of Armpit this range varies somewhere between 34.7 and 37. When it comes to the ear, this range starts from 35 and reaches 38.

Guidelines for getting accurate reading:

• Seek for immediate help in case of infants
• Never to leave child unattended

Follow these point in order to look after your child in a better and more structured manner.