- Taking your kid's temperature
may now be a part of your daily routine,
but are you getting an accurate reading?
Joe Cronauer learned the tricks
of the temperature-taking trade.
- Wait a minute. Do I have a fever?
Am I feeling warm?
How often have we had our temperature taken this year?
It's been crazy.
Well, we need advice from an expert
and joining us right now, Dr. Eliades
is joining us from Akron Children's Hospital.
Doctor, advice on thermometers and taking our temperature.
Let's just dive right in.
You've got a lot to cover here and with good reason,
because it's so important these days.
- It is so important.
So if you're able to find a thermometer
or if you're able to find a store or even online,
if you see all of the various types of thermometers,
you might be a little surprised.
The typical thermometer that had been used
for a very long time, mercury thermometers,
if you have those at home,
please make sure that you turn those in.
The mercury inside the thermometer,
should the thermometer be broken, can be harmful
so you can call your health department
or your doctor's office and just turn that in.
The most common type of thermometer today
is a digital thermometer.
And a digital thermometer you can use under your tongue,
you can use it under your arm, or for infants,
you can use it rectally to take a temperature.
They also come with something called a probe cover.
So you can put this on and take it off
and it will just leave the plastic on.
It's an easy way of making sure that every time,
if you're testing more than one person in the household,
or even the same person,
that every time you have a clean thermometer.
A couple of general points.
Make sure that you clean all the thermometers
as they are instructed in the manufacturer's instructions
when you read them and also make sure
that you have a thermometer.
That's one of the most important things
and many homes do not have a thermometer.
And so we'll give you all the great information
about the importance of taking temperatures,
but having a thermometer, having batteries,
if it's something that can be replaced
in case the batteries go dead,
those are all very important things.
Another very common thermometer
is a temporal artery thermometer or a forehead thermometer.
And again, read the instructions.
Some of these come now
where you just point them at the forehead.
You don't have to touch the forehead.
Others, you touch the forehead
and you touch the back of the ear or the back of the neck.
Just make sure you look at the instructions.
All of the thermometers now make a noise
when they've reached the temperature.
So they will give beeps or a series of beeps
so you don't have to worry about
how do I know when it's at the highest point.
- Thinking back to the way it used to be, again,
get rid of those mercury thermometers.
They're unsafe because if they break,
it's really, really unsafe,
but we used to take them out in the middle of the night
and the shaking and all that.
Those days are gone.
Technology has definitely brought us into a place
where, you know, it's important
because our temperature is really letting us know
that our body is dealing with something,
it's cooking something.
Possibly an infection.
Could be COVID, could be a fever
or a regular cold and all that.
But our body has amazing ways of letting us know that.
And the thermometer is really the best way to do that.
Most people think that anything over 98.6 is a fever,
but tell us exactly what we should look for.
- So 98.6 is still the average temperature of a body.
So that means that some people are higher,
some people are lower.
98.6 to about 102, 100.4,
we consider what's called a low grade temperature.
Your body's starting to fight something.
It's sort of gearing up to have an increase in temperature,
but it's not something that is that concerning.
If you have a temperature of a 100.4 or above repeatedly,
or your child does,
you need to let someone know about that.
In babies, temperature's very important.
They don't have the same responses
and the same ability to fight things
as older children and adults.
So in a baby, a temperature of really 102,
especially 103 is something that you need
to make sure that you're contacting your doctor for.
- Cause for concern.
Well for more information and a wonderful advice,
330-543-1000, the number for Akron Children's Hospital
or you can go online to AkronChildrens.org.
Doctor, thank you so much for the time
and the great, great information.
- Thank you.
- [Announcer] This segment of "It's About You"
was sponsored by Akron Children's Hospital.