Children Temperature and Clinical Thermometer

 

Every home that have younger kids must have a clinical thermometer. Younger children, particularly infants and babies, can’t appropriately describe or show their symptoms while they are ill. Most childhood illnesses are linked with rise in temperature, often inappropriately described as fever.

 

Fever means different to different individuals and most of them refer it to rise in temperature. Severe ailments like encephalitis, viral and bacterial meningitis began off with simple symptoms. For instance measles, it can kill your baby, or if it doesn’t, can leave serious complications or side-effects like visual or hearing defects, brain damages and learning difficulties.

 

 

The initial symptoms of measles are similar to those of a cold. A runny nose, a bit of a sniffle, a cough and eventually a sore throat. Temperature also rises to over 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit). If you think that your child has measles, or if temperatures stays at or goes over 38 Celsius, you should inform your doctor immediately.

 

If you do not have a clinical thermometer, you cannot determine the child's temperature! You may notice your child becoming a bit flushed, and may feel warmer than normal to the touch. However, it is far better to be able to measure this accurately. With measles, the temperature starts to drop after a day or two, then increases again as the spots appear and go as high as 40C (104F). You should definitely have contacted a doctor by then, but if you have no thermometer you may not have noticed the increase in temperature.

 

In many cases the temperature increase is the only indication that your child has more than just a cough and a runny nose. There are various types of thermometer available suitable for children. The old glass type with the kink is not recommended for young children. Digital thermometers are better, though disposable ones in the form of plastics strips with temperature sensitive dots are very useful. One side is self adhesive to stick to the skin under the armpit and the dots change colour at different temperatures. They can be used while the child is asleep and are disposable or re-usable for a certain period of time.

 

Alternative safe way to measure children temperature is ear thermometer that measures infrared heat emission form eardrum. Infrared probe is put into ear to measure temperature. This’s safe as probe is very short to reach ear drum, and it is larger enough than ear canal. This kind of thermometer is found in hospitals and can be bought form online stores or good pharmacies at a price of 30 to 50 bucks. Forehead thermometers also come in traditional glass rectal type which can be used by trained people only.