Finger first

My Mother, Aunt, and Grandma all used their finger first before putting the thermometer into my butt hole. They all said that they were making my anus nice and slippery so the thermometer wouldn't hurt going in.

They were kidding you! Their finger was at least 3X bigger than the thermometer!

I have no recollection of rectal temps growing up, just oral and under the arm. Once I started playing doctor with a few different girlfriends, yes, my anus got lubricated very well and occasionally very deep too. Each woman has her own technique when playing doctor I have learned.

so the thermometer wouldn't hurt going in.

How a thin little thermometer could ever hurt has always been beyond me. It is such an insignificant thing to insert. What people were really complaining about was the embarrassment which is a different matter.

Agracier: It's actually possible to hurt somebody with a rectal thermometer if inserted wrongly or with insufficient lubrication. This is one rationale against using rectal temperatures, and also a motivation for the flexible tip thermometers.

But yeah there is no rationale in inserting a finger before a thermometer, especially an ungloved one, since chances are higher to hurt with a fingernail than with a thermometer.

Before inserting things anally my mother would ask me to "push" like for going potty and that was one good precaution.

if inserted wrongly or with insufficient lubrication. .

A bit of lubrication is always helpful, but that goes without saying. What I meant was that a rectal thermometer is so small in diameter, that people can't possibly legitimately complain about the width being too much or hurting.

See @ShimmerMist's joke about Mercury in Uranus!

https://en.zity.biz/index.php?mx=forum;ox=display;topic=5599;firstnew;lounge=134

For me as a child, it was always the thermometer first and only.

As a child, my Mom just dipped the thermometer into our large jar of Vaseline. She would get a very generous dollop onto the bulb and than deftly insert it into my rectum. Only had one suppository as a child, so she almost never had to use a finger.

My mom just dipped the thermometer in a jar of Vaseline

I don’t remember a finger before a rectal temp but before an enema yes.

Speaking professionally you insert a finger into the rectum to feel if there is anything obstructing the entrance into the rectum.

Also to make sure there is not anything in the rectum that might interfere with the insertion of any medical instruments that will be inserted into ones anus and up into the rectum.

So when you insert a lubed finger into the rectum before the thermometer, especially by mom or dad or whoever was taking a child's temperature, that is just to lube ones anus and rectum. Unless someone enjoys lubing anuses and rectums.

Finger first or finger last, don't really care about it, as long as it gives a good feeling in and around your anus before and after the thermometer is inserted.

As a kid, I had one nurse who must have attended me more than once. She stood out because she was the only one who would actually put the gel directly onto my anus with her finger. I distinctly remember her out of the many.

As an adult taking my own or someone else’s, definitely finger first...

Just remember: One finger equals medical; two fingers equals magical!