Pediatrician rectal temperature

Yes, when I was little, I wanted to the hospital and wen you entered the first step before seeing the doctor was to ta the vital. I was then asked to remove everything except my boxers, the lady took my vitals and it was all going well until it was time to take my temp. My parents where both working a lot so they i was with my aunty, she would always take my temp in my buttom when I was younger so naturally when the nurse asked how I would like my temp taken she kickly said “rectaly” my aunty then lowered my pants and bented me over her knees so the nurse could take my temperature no need to say I was mad at her for a couple of days. It was 10 at the time I was so ashamed!

Yes, I can clearly remember getting a thermometer up my butt when I was very young. It was actually a very positive experience being on my tummy and feeling the thermometer slide right in. It felt pretty good and I have wonderful memories of it.

It became routine when I saw another pediatrician. He would take it to spare me the embarrassment of having the nurse do so. I suppose that was kind of him but still an awkward moment to say the least. I saw him through high school. His exams were very thorough so a temp was not the worst. The usual was to go in to the exam room after I gave a urine sample and strip to my briefs. I would be weighed by the nurse and then told to sit on the table. The tray contained gloves and ky. The thermometer was the type that was attached to a cord and seemed to be longer than the familiar glass type. The doctor would engage me in small talk while discussing the nature of the exam and then tell me to lay back and turn over. There was no sense in stalling as it was to be done regardless. And so it was.

Yes, as a child in the 1960s, it was a pretty routine thing to have a rectal temperature at the pediatrician. Add to that, my mother used them on me at home, and made no secret to my nurse that it was her preference for me. It was so routine, that my nurse didn't question it or bat an eyelash, merely had me turn onto my tummy.

At nearly every appointment I received RT. 2 possibilities:

• Nearly every time I was called by a nurse to go into an examination room. There was measuring session of height, weight, pulse, blood pressure and temperature .
• Sometimes the pediatrician itself took my temperature during examination, so Sometimes I was measured two times then. Often when I had to get a shot(very most time: vaccination), the thermometer still stuck in my bum. So I believe it was a kind of distraction tactic for reducing the fear for the shots

Besides some very rare occasions a visit to my pediatrician would always mean me getting my temperature taken. There was only one way it was done back in the 80s.

It was often done when I had an appointment because I was sick.

I can only remember the nurse taking my temperature that way when it seemed to be always followed by an injection!

Always oral for me at the pediatrician UNTIL we moved. Mom took me to a new doctor in a very scary hospital clinic. I think I was 10 or 11 and the nurse came in and said she was going to take my temperature “in my bottom”. I was shocked and humiliated. I don't remember ever having my temperature taken that way - even as a small child. She made me lay on the table and pull down my underpants. I still remember the intense sensation of that cold thermometer being inserted into my anus.

@Miss_Sarah Did you go for long to this new doctor? Until how old was your temperature taken that way?

We always had our temps taken rectally at the Pediatrician. I don't think we had a choice, and I liked how it felt anyway. When I turned 13, they suddenly switched to oral temperature taking. I don't know if it had to do with me hitting puberty, or the fact that I was always hard when the nurse took my temperature in my rectum. I do remember though that I felt a bit of humiliation and embarrassment when they switched to oral because I though they saw my hardon and it was a “Bad” thing.

I can't remember any occasion where I got my temperature taken at the pediatrician. Which isn't very surprising as my mother only took us kids there for check-ups or to get a vaccination. In case of sickness my pediatricians made house visits. She was an extremely good-looking women. Quiet tall with short black hair and mesmerizing blue eyes which were always kinda smiling.She used to dress quiet nicely, often wore a skirt and some “business heels” no idea how these things are called correctly. These shoes with only a small heel which aren't to uncomfortable I guess. With one phrase stunning Lady. I might have had a little crush on her in my teenage year. But I would've never admitted that. These visits always started the same. After she sat down on my bed and greeted me she opened her big black suite case and took out a silver metal tube containing the thermometer. I remember vividly watching her taking the thermometer out of its containment and starting to shake it down. At that age I wasn't really keen on getting my temperature taken. Well things change over times. But as a kid watching her preparing the thermometer were quiet anxious moments. After she finished shaking the thermometer down she always ever told me with the exact same words - it still rings in my ears until today - „so, na dann dreh dich mal um.“ in english it would be “well, then turn over”. She was pretty fast with applying lube on the thermometer, taking my pj bottoms down and inserting the thermometer. Well I guess she had a lot of practice 😄. While waiting for the thermometer to register she started talking to my mother about my condition. It was quiet time efficient to do the anamnesis while taking the temperature. I guess that might have been the reason why she always startet like that.

@Holger81 judging on basis of your detailed recollections this lady made quiet an impression on you.

I have no memory of it happening as a child though it probably did. From 12 onward, no, it was always done in my mouth. But I was aware of rectal temperatures and knew what they were but cannot remember where I learned of it. Probably in a medical book on my parents bookshelf. I did always wonder every time I went to the pediatrician's if it would happen to me though. A big part of my doctor office anxiety and excitement.

I have no recollection of rectal temps being done at the Dr.'s office.I assume it was done there when I was a infant/toddler. Housecalls did not happen until I was 6 ('56). Always in my bedroom with the Dr. sitting on the armless desk chair and me fully Otk across his lap with my “underpants” (briefs) and/or my p.j.bottoms downed to my ankles..even at age 9. The Dr.stopped making any housecalls in late 1959 or early 1960 as it began to interfere with his Office schedule.

Our family GP served for all our medical needs and visits were frequent. Until age 10 visits always included a rectal temperature. If it was a visit for illness I'd be told to sit on the crinkly paper on the table and turn on my tummy. My mom would typically tug down my pants and shorts. The nurse, in her starched uniform with white cap, would locate the red-tipped thermometer and shake it down. The aroma of alcohol was pervasive. When I was younger I was always terrified I'd get a shot so would cry uncontrollably and require restraint by my mom. I would calm down when I figured out that wasn't happening – yet! I don't recall what they used for lube but the cheeks of my little bottom were spread and the nurse inserted the oh so cold thermometer into my bottom hole. If I'd been struggling she always held the shaft in me to insure I didn't dislodge it but if I behaved she would generally leave it unattended. Truth be told I kinda enjoyed the feeling of her warm hand resting across my fanny anyway. After the requisite 3 to 5 minutes she would slide out the thermometer, read it and drop it into a tray by the sink before noting the reading. And I knew it happened to every other kid in the clinic.

I always went to a family doctor, never a pediatrician.

I never received a rectal temp except in a play situation

Our family GP served for all our medical needs and visits were frequent. Until age 10 visits always included a rectal temperature.

@Pollux If I may, I would have 2 questions. First what does frequent mean and what were the reasons for our appointments? And second was there a difference in the process of taking your temperature on non-sick vs. sick visits?

Greetins Holger

Holger, frequent was maybe once a month, once a year for check ups and the rest sick visits. For check ups it was down to my shorts, then up on the table on my tummy for a rectal temp. For sick visits I didn't usually have to strip before my temperature was taken.

This wasn’t at the doctors office but it was a hospital. I always had ear problems when I was younger that always caused me to get sick for some reason . Well one time I guess I got real sick I went to the Er. And all I remember was I was standing on the bed at the hospital and I felt my pants get pulled down I then immediately pulled them back up they then got pulled down to my ankles . The doctor came back dipped the thermometer into lube went to insert it then stopped the dipped it in the lube again then inserted it and I just remember looking back and seeing numbers then he removed it and I felt my butt get rubbed

Here's a rectal temperature from a different vantage point. After I completed my internship in California I was eligible for a license to practice medicine in the State. As did many of my colleagues I found a job to supplement my meager residents salary. I worked a couple of evenings a week at a local after hours medical office, what might now be called an urgent care center. I saw maybe 5 to 10 patients per 3 hour shift, mostly sick kids and adults with headaches or back pain. The only other employee was the receptionist who roomed the patient. If it was a sick child (about 50-60 percent) she gave the mom a thermometer and told her to take her kids temp. I only learned the procedure when I stepped into the exam room to see a little girl over mommies lap with a rectal thermometer in place in her little fanny. That scene was repeated often and I didn't mind a bit.

Holger, frequent was maybe once a month, once a year for check ups and the rest sick visits.

@Pollux holy cow, you have been sick once every month. Did you suffer some chronical illness? Hope you do better meanwhile?

Kind of a funny story, I was 7 one time at the pediatrician. Was so upset, when asked to open my mouth for a temp I refused doc flipped me on my tummy qnd next thing I knew I was getting a thermomter slide in my bum. Since that episode it was taking that way each and every time I went to the see the doc. Then a year later when I was hosoitalized they still did it that way.

Dagmar, I developed recurrent ear infections around the age of 4 resulting in the frequent doctor visits and temperature taking, always rectal. By the age of around 8 the condition cleared and I haven't been troubled by it since.

He took my rectal temperature at the pediatrician until I was 10 years old, I never liked it, I always begged that they not do it to me, but no matter how much I asked, in the end my mom always held me down, pulled down my pants and underpants and the pediatrician introduced the thermometer.

The only time I can remember having my temperature taken rectally at our pediatrician was when I was perhaps five. They gave me a shot in the rump just before the thermometer was inserted. I started crying from the sting of the needle and associated it with the thermometer. It was traumatic, to say the least. After that experience, I hoped I would never have another rectal temp again, but that all changed when I was seven. I had an ear infection and our neighborhood doctor took my temperature rectally. There was no shot this time, and I was stunned at how good it felt. My fetish was born that same day.

Rectal temps were normal in the 80s in Germany when you had to go to the pediatrician when ill.

I had mine taken in various occasions there.

Just like @biene have mentioned rectal temperatures were quiet common in Germany in the last century. I had mine take on some appointments at my pediatrician. It was always an odd feeling watching him taking the thermometer out of the drawer where all the instruments were stored.