Baby thermometer: which one to choose

Infrared, ear, digital, mercury, liquid crystal or galinstane thermometer What is the best thermometer for measuring fever in children? And how is it measured? And what should be avoided?

What is fever and how is it measured?

Fever is a reaction of the organism that favors the immune defenses, therefore it must not be considered the number one enemy to fight. It makes sense to take body temperature if the baby is unwell. Indicatively, if it exceeds 38.5 an antipyretic is administered. But this is not a rule that always applies. If despite the rather high fever, the child is fine, it is not necessary to give paracetamol or ibuprofen. Lowering the fever serves to alleviate the state of malaise, to make the child feel better, and not to avoid the much feared convulsions for which a genetic predisposition has been demonstrated.

To avoid unnecessary alarm, consider that the temperature of 37.2 detected at the axillary level is not fever, just as it is not 38 at the rectal level.

To measure the temperature correctly, the baby must not be sweaty, hot and super covered and the environment must not be excessively hot. In practice, there is no point in doing it immediately after he has jumped like a madman on the bed or while he is attached to the radiator on a ball or is wearing one sweater over the other. Otherwise the measurement is not reliable. Also keep in mind that body temperature tends to be higher in the evening.

In practice, you need to measure your fever when you need it, in a correct environment and with the best system. Having said that, however, no system for detecting body temperature is perfect, they all have critical issues, but for practicality and reliability I would recommend parents to use the digital thermometer to use under the armpits.

Infrared thermometer

The best thermometer in terms of ease of use is the infrared thermometer to be placed in contact with the skin or equipped with a pointer that allows remote use.

It really only takes a few seconds to measure the temperature. But in unskilled hands they are not always reliable.

Digital thermometer (also called electronic)

Green light to the use of the digital thermometer for the detection of fever at home because as well as being rapid it gives a margin of error that is not very significant from a strictly clinical point of view, that is, it is irrelevant for the diagnosis. In other words, it is possible that the digital thermometer signals a value of 38.2 degrees and the real temperature is instead, for example, of 38.4: the two tenths of a degree more, which could be important in, for example, scientific research on fever, have little relevance in the case of the individual child. In fact, it is not from this minimal difference that the subsequent way of managing the fever and the hypotheses that the pediatrician can formulate about its origin depend.

Liquid crystal strips

The "liquid crystal strips", which detect fever after being placed on the baby's forehead, are not recommended. These are aids that provide extremely inaccurate results, so much so that specialists believe that the mother's hand identifies the possible presence of fever with more accuracy than the strips.

Mercury thermometers

Mercury thermometers have retired: they have been withdrawn from the market under a European provision that decreed their toxicity. In some houses, however, there are still some. For the child it should not be used because the risk of rupture is high and their mercury content is toxic. Galinstane thermometers, on the other hand, are not toxic and are also cheap and reliable: more accurate than digital ones, but they take a little longer to measure the temperature. They are quite similar in appearance to common mercury thermometers, but contain an alloy of gallium, indium and tin called "Galinstan" inside the capillary.

How to measure fever

The digital thermometer is placed under the child's armpit. It is very easy to read, provides its result in 1-3 minutes and is equipped with an acoustic alarm that signals the detection.

It should not be used rectally: this modality is considered too invasive. Even if it can be practical with very small children, because it is more complicated to keep the thermometer under the armpit for the necessary time. But there is a risk of injury and keep in mind that the temperature can be altered if there is irritation in the bottom or if he has just pooped.

Oral measurement (under the tongue) should also be avoided because it requires collaboration from the child that is almost impossible to obtain.

The infrared "contact" thermometer must be placed on the forehead, while the remote one must be pointed in the direction of the child, at the distance suggested by the accompanying leaflet. In both cases, detection takes only a few seconds.

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