Everyone has a temperature. Not everyone has a fever.
Taking your child’s temperature helps you and the pediatrician make decisions about your child’s condition and recommended treatment.
A rectal temperature is recommended for children under 2 months of age.
There are many inexpensive digital thermometers to chose from. These are sold as oral and rectal.
Ear and forehead (temporal artery and infrared) thermometers are more appropriate for children over one year of age. Doctors don’t recommend temperature strips or pacifier thermometers.
For tips on taking your child’s temperature, see my Baby Center videos here.
For more information on the new infrared thermometers, see the article I contributed to in the Wall Street here
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About Lisa M. Asta, MD
Lisa M. Asta, M.D. is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for which she is also a Media Representative (she has been interviewed for “Kids Health” on Health Radio, and quoted in Parenting Magazine, USA Today, and the New York Times, among other publications). She is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco and past pediatric chair at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. She graduated from Temple University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Asta is also a writer whose fiction has appeared in Inkwell, Philadelphia Stories, Schuylkill, and Zeniada. Her essays have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Hippocrates, the San Jose Mercury News, and The New Physician Magazine. She is an occasional contributor to KQED public radio’s Perspectives series, and has written articles for Bay Area Parent, Valley Parent, Parents’ Press, and Parents Express, as well as online at WebMD.com, Rx.com, and MyLifePath.com. She wrote a chapter in The Field Guide to the Normal Newborn, ed. Gary Emmet, M.D. BabyCenter.com currently has two how-to videos for parents in production which feature Dr. Asta.
For more on Dr. Asta’s writing, visit www.LMAsta.com
Everyone has a temperature. Not everyone has a fever.
Casa Verde Pediatrics, Inc. 