For children in the 1990s, Were rectal temperatures considered abusive and very unusual?

I was a child in the late 90’s, but never had it done.

I was a child in the early 90s, and had my temperature taken rectally until around 9 or so. I don't know if this was common in other households at the time, and I never took a survey as you might imagine.

Was a teenager in the 90s but pretty sure didn't get my rectal temperature took anytime in that time, honestly can't remember when it quit as a kid in the 80s and know now I get it took only by the rectal method at home and oral is only used at my doctors and my nurse girlfriend believes in only using the red probe for now on and have no problem with that!

I was born in 1997 and I received RT and suppositories as child an teen, it was normal for me. But I also realised that another thinking about these things came up.I never felt abused when I received RT

I spent most of my childhood in the 90s. My parents LOVED the digital thermometer because it was fast, easy and it went under the tongue. Also, it didn't have mercury so if it broke, it was ok. I'm pretty sure both my sister (half a decade younger) and I both took a few RTs as babies.

I don't have that fetish.

I was born in the 90's, it would've been very very unusual to hear of anyone not an infant getting a rectal temp. Even small children at the doctor's got a digital ear temp. At home it was always under the tongue, and if I ever had a rectal temp it was before I was old enough to follow basic instructions, and therefore too young to have any memories of it.

I wouldn't call it abusive, but with the basic digital thermometers existing, it would've been suspicious for anyone over, say, 3 years old.

@arika same here and I'm close to your age.

I was born late 70s. I had this and suppositories ( antibiotics) till I was about 10

If you look at this question from a strictly medical point of view……

Let's see, tell patient to sit on exam table. If they are in an exam gown then you need to have then lay on there side or on their tummy. Get thermometer, shake it down, get the vaseline, apply lube, insert thermometer, wait 2 minutes and then pull the thermometer out of the butt hole and tell to just sit there and wait. Wow a lot of work and time to get someone's temperature. If not then stand and pull pants and underwear down and bend over? Or lay on table and pull pants down or lift skirt till you can expose the anal hole and prepare to invade.

The evolution of the thermometer, at least in modern times, was to make it easier and faster to obtain. I am sure everyone has seen doctor's offices and how the exam rooms are lined up and the priority is to have patients in every exam room and ready to be seen by the doctor.

Ie………. It is all about the all mighty doctor and the dollar. I have worked in the doctor's offices and I can tell you part of the job is keeping up with the doctor and making sure he/she has a patient ready to see and do not make them wait. I have also seen this with surgeons waiting for their surgical patient to be preptped and so on and he was pissed he had to wait an extra 20 minutes because the patient was extremely emotional, scared, nervous and worried about her family and needed extra time for some TLC before we proceeded with prepping her.

Anyway, in the actual medical setting I do not think you would even be able to find an old glass mercury thermometer. In the hospital they had the temp on the wall and that had both oral and rectal.

The old fashion doctor who believed rectal temps were the best was to get the most accurate temp probably have all passed away. I do have a few rectal glass thermometers and do use them on those that need a temperature taken.

But, when time allows it is best to expose the ladies buttocks, spread her cheeks, apply a generous amount of vaseline to that exposed anal hole and insert the thermometer into her rectum.

I've never had one.

My impression is that most people born from 1990 on, wouldn't have experienced a rectal temp., unless it was customary in their home. Their parents may have been convinced that it was more accurate, and the preferred way, if that's how they grew up. I don't know at what point the PC police got involved, but there are those in the community who see it as abuse, and likely had some influence in the removal of rectal thermometers from store shelves. It can be argued that the new technology replaced them, but that's debatable. Suppositories are still sold and used, even though there are oral laxatives available. What do the PC police have to say about that ?

As far as I understand the issue, the main reason that rectal temperatures used to be preferred, especially for children, is that in the days of mercury thermometers, it was necessary to keep the thermometer under the tongue for one to three minutes uninterrupted to get an accurate oral reading; in comparison it's easier to just insert the tip into the rectum, since there is no conscious act needed to keep it properly in.

Besides, the temperature of the rectum wall is closer to the core temperature. Also, using a mercury thermometer orally was also a big deal, since letting it fall meant a complicated cleanup; so some parents would have the child on a bed anyway just to have a soft surface underneath. Going rectal did not add that much trouble on top of that.

With the advent of electronic thermometers that need less than 10 seconds to settle, the rationale largely disappeared. Then tympanic thermometers came. Letting an electronic device fall could be annoying, but no big deal compared to cleaning broken glass and mercury. You could take a temperature anywhere quickly.

So this is why rectal largely disappeared, except in children young enough that they can't be expected to hold still for other methods.

All my kids growing up in the early to mid 80's got rectal temperatures, even though new digital models were appearing. If they were sick enough to stay home from school, then yeah, they got rectal's. If they had a fever, an enema would come next after the siblings left for school. One in the morning, one after rest and lunch, and another before they came home. All determined by the rectal thermometer. My kid's knew if they were faking that it would be found out, and an ensuing enemas that day.

Only had 1 that had attendance problems.

Never got an enema after the age of 5 or 6. Also never missed a day of school K through 12. We had different motivations for not faking being sick vs avoiding an enema. We were taught responsibility, commitment and persevence. Never remember any threats for not going to school.

So this is why rectal largely disappeared, except in children young enough that they can't be expected to hold still for other methods.

Even then, thermometers are essentially instant-read, you just scan their forehead like a barcode and boom, done, a billion times less hassle than any other method. Even before those, the ear ones were pretty much instant. Rectal seems to be the 2nd most inconvenient for small squirmy children after under the tongue, honestly.

@arika It depends on the child. Some simply won't stand anything in their ear (some parents told me it's nearly impossible to use a tympanic thermometer on their child). In contrast, our children did not mind a thermometer in the rectum for 10 seconds.

A similar phenomenon occurs with medicine for some children at least. We were to give paracetamol (aka acetaminophen aka Tylenol) orally using a kind of syringe. Both our children, at a certain age, would attempt to pull the syringe out and/or spit the medicine out. This was very annoying since one is supposed to give a certain dose, and you can't know what's been spit out; not to mention the stains on clothing etc. In contrast, paradoxically, both accepted suppositories.

I got my rectal temperatures taking tell 16 yo and I have 3 boys I take there rectal temps6 8 and 9 yo. they never complain. If you all still wont to take rectal temps these days. there's nothing wrong.

I was born in 1986 and the oldest child of five. Our temps were always rectal, regardless of age.

In Italy, since the 80s, it was not used.

I've never heard of anyone doing it here in England, why would you need to take a child's temperature anyway unless on the rare occasion you thought they might be very unwell. As a parent, you would be in-tune with them very aware of any problem and act accordingly and give them the usual children's medicine if necessary, or consult a doctor if you feel things are more serious. We had a plastic strip purchased in the 80's from Boots the Chemist that went on the forehead and changed colour, still have it now it works well. Sticking a thermometer up a child's bottom is ridiculous to be quite frank and unnecessary. If your young child is very unwell then they will be listless and you will know instantly…

I very rarely had my temperature taken as a child or adult, never by a parent in my recollection I don't think my parents possessed a thermometer, and once or twice perhaps by a doctor. It wasn't something doctors in the UK did as routine back in the day. Doctors do it more nowadays because it is much quicker and easier with the ear or forehead scanner. To be honest I have had my temperature taken many more times in the last year because of Covid than all the previous years of my life in total, there was often someone waiting with a scanner be it at the restaurant or hospital entrance or various other places…

I've never heard of anyone doing it here in England, why would you need to take a child's temperature anyway unless on the rare occasion you thought they might be very unwell. As a parent, you would be in-tune with them very aware of any problem and act accordingly and give them the usual children's medicine if necessary, or consult a doctor if you feel things are more serious.

Susie's mother could read her kids temp with a kiss on the forehead. Said her lips were fully calibrated. I think you could tell if the forehead temp was really elevated. We seldom took kids temp after they were around 2 (fevers can be more serious in babies). I remember a few times getting an oral temp when my mom thought we were really sick - never remember getting a rectal temp.

I remember a few times getting an oral temp when my mom thought we were really sick - never remember getting a rectal temp.

I got an oral temp whenever I felt feverish, just to see if I was too sick for school (I never wanted to fall behind), and probably to make sure I wasn't so sick I needed to go to the doctor.

I grew up in the 80s and don’t recall ever having a rectal temp taken, although it probably did occur when I was little. My first memory of being at a doctor was at 5 or 6 when my sister slammed my thumb in a door and mom took me to urgent care. The nurse came in to take my vitals and told me to open up for the thermometer. I got upset and held up my thumb and told her I wasn’t sick, my dumb little sister hurt my thumb. She tried not to laugh and put the thermometer under my tongue. That was probably 1985.

I've never heard of anyone doing it here in England, why would you need to take a child's temperature anyway unless on the rare occasion you thought they might be very unwell. As a parent, you would be in-tune with them very aware of any problem and act accordingly and give them the usual children's medicine if necessary, or consult a doctor if you feel things are more serious. We had a plastic strip from Boots the Chemist that went on the forehead and changed colour, still have it now it works well. Sticking a thermometer up a child's bottom is ridiculous to be quite frank and unnecessary. If your young child is very unwell then they will be listless and you will know instantly…I've never had my temperature taken in my life, by a parent or doctor for that matter…

Here in the US they take your temperature every visit to any doctor no matter the reason for the visit It's part of getting the vital signs of a person. Odd that they don't do that in the UK. I was born in late 1960's and doctor office used rectal temp until I was 5-7 I believe. I remember laying on your side on the exam table nurse would do it. I don't remember the exact age didn't really think about it much back then. The thermometers were the mercury kind kept them in glass tube on the counter it one said rectal and the other oral. Later as I got older I remember always watching the nurse carefully make sure she didn't grab the rectal marked tube when using it in the mouth. As I got into my teens in the 1980's they started using those kind like today they slide a sleeve over a probe has a wire goes back to a box only takes 10 seconds oral type. Few places use those head scanners now with Covid like at the dentist they are very in accurate. Where I live we have hot summers sitting in my car when she read it showed 101F on the forehead scanner. I don't remember ever having my parents give me rectal temp I'm sure they did when I was a baby if I was sick. My parents divorced when I was 16 my mother moved to another state my father was out of town lot working I stopped going to the doctor. Only saw an urgent care doctor once in awhile for the next 30 years. I doubt any doctor uses rectal temp on a regular bases maybe they do. I know they no longer use the old mercury they were just too slow. I do believe the reason for the rectal until 7 years old was the concern child might bite down on those glass ones who knows.

Here in the US they take your temperature every visit to any doctor no matter the reason for the visit It's part of getting the vital signs of a person.

Outside of the Covid screenings when entering a medical facility over the last year or so, I have never had my temperature taken at a doctor visit since I was maybe 5 or 6. Even when I went in for surgery they did not take my temp. I don't think it is routine here in the US at all. Vital signs are for us are simply BP, O2(sometimes), weight, and heart and lung check.

As digital thermometers began to appear in the 90's they had dual use--oral or rectal. Common sense dictates you don't do a oral temp check on a infant or even a fidgety 5 yr.old. A rush of social correctness to steer parents away from the traditional rectal thermometer produced several substitution fever checking gizmos which could be applied/inserted on the child's forehead or armpit,etc.and had questionable accuracy issues. It should be a parental decision when their child is ready to be switched from rectal temp checks to the oral version.

I was born in 1980 and have no memory of ever getting one in a medical setting. By the time I was 10 or 11 everything was digital and they even had early ear and forehead ones. Unless someone has a high fever how accurate do you really need to be?

@NEDoc1980 I'm told that a rectal temperature may still be the best choice for detecting ovulation, since the change in temperature is slight and high precision is needed. Of course this does not concern children.

I am from 1980 and it was rectal for me, even by 2001 in the hospital.

@NEDoc1980 I'm told that a rectal temperature may still be the best choice for detecting ovulation, since the change in temperature is slight and high precision is needed. Of course this does not concern children.

Yep, basal temperature. That said, it's not very accurate on its own, and if you're using it to prevent pregnancy, even combined with other methods it's the least reliable aside from spinning a wheel, lol. And also I think the vast majority of the ones sold in this age are under the tongue digital (and frequently app connected).