When it comes to their kids, there is one thing all parents have in common; they all want their kids to stay healthy and happy. It is however a little hard to make this happen when you have a little person who is not able to communicate how they are feeling. Other than crying, babies have no other way of expressing their feeling. Nothing is harder than soothing a crying baby without knowing whether they are hungry, wet or sick.
While it is easy to feed or check whether the infant has a soiled diaper, it is also important to rule out sickness as a cause of the fussiness. This will save you countless of trips to the doctor’s office in the middle of the night every time your child has gas. It is also important to catch an infection early to increase the ease and speed of treating it. But how do you know when they are sick?
Every parent knows that one of the essentials to have in the house is a thermometer. This is because when we get infections, the body reacts by raising the temperature so as to make the conditions unbearable for whatever organism that is intruding the body and sabotaging our health. This immune response is known as fever.
Contrary to popular belief, fever is actually your friend. It not only slows down the rate at which an infection attacks the body, it also acts as a signal that something is wrong. This is where the digital thermometer comes into play. Monitoring the temperature of your little bundle of joy helps signal that something is not right as far as the health of your baby is concerned.
Kids can be very fussy especially when they are sick. If your baby does not like having a thermometer in their ear, you might want to consider getting a non-contact digital thermometer. Non-contact thermometers use an infrared beam to get the temperature reading without you having to touch your baby or insert it into places where the sun never shines. This allows you to take the temperature of your baby even when they are sleeping without having to worry about germs.
For older kids and adults, an ear thermometer will do the work just fine. They make a reading when inserted into the ear as the name suggests. They are less intrusive than the traditional thermometers that have to be placed under the armpit or in the mouth. Since newborns have very tiny ear canals, ear thermometers should not be used. Opt for the non-contact ones.
Anal thermometers are also accurate, but they require the baby to be still for a few seconds. The only problem with this kind is that babies normally do what they want when they want. Most parents will also tell you that it is very hard to argue with an infant. Whatever kind you choose to go for, the most important thing to remember is that you need to follow the instructions given by the manufacturer so as to get the most accurate reading.