Temp taking differences at home vs pediatrician

During your childhood (maybe even in your teens) did your temp taking method differed when your mom did at home versus your pediatrician took at the doctors office? So maybe at the doctor they "graduated" you for oral temperature taking, but your mom continued the rectal tradition at home? (and vica versa situation)

If yes, what was the reasons?

Nope home and doctor as a kid was always rectal, after 13 my doctor would let you do oral if you asked. I never minded rectal so never asked, And mom let me take my own starting when I was 10 or 11. So I kept doing rectal at home till I left home at 18. I do rectal still. I was born in 1958 and was 13 in 1971. FYI i started to do RT play with a male friend at age 10 we would wait till parents left for a while and get the thermometer out of his or my bathroom and take our rectal temps. We did this off and on from age 10 to 13. We even gave each other an enema if we had enough time. We were not gay, but both had a thing for thermometers, enema pipes and the like, in our butts.

At a time with the glass (mercury-fill) thermometer was used exclusively for taking a temperature the of the criteria most often used for determining if a youngster should be required to have a temperature taken rectally with a glass rectal thermometer was age which was up to five years old due to delays in maturity which was applied both in a clinical environment as well as at home. Since that time, some youngsters beyond that age (with most having been boys) continue to have these delays which would placed them at risk of having a mishap with a glass oral thermometer placed in the mouth. However, this change is transparent taking into account that the glass thermometer has been replaced by electronic thermometers for the most part.

Since that time, some boys beyond that age continue to have these delays which would placed them at risk of having a mishap with a glass oral thermometer placed in the mouth.

Only Boys?

I experienced this. I only have one vague memory of RT at the pediatrician when I was really young, but got my temp taken rectally at home until I was like 11 or 12. I'd protest at home because I knew I was old enough for oral and never really got a good explanation as to why there were different practices at home and the doctor. Nurses routinely had a hard time getting an accurate oral reading from me - usually taking it twice -- so I'm surprised they didn't revert to rectal.

When I was a kid, it was usually taken rectally both at home and at the doctor. Once, I was accompanied by my grandfather to the doctor, instead of my mother. I told him that it was taken orally as usual and the nurse went along with it. That’s the time it was different, and was the first time having it done orally. The nurse must have suspected about it, she put it in and made sure it was placed under my tongue and she kept reminding me to hold it under.

Always played doctor with my neighbor from 7 until 13. Another neighbor had a play house. We would always end up in the playhouse taking turns being the doctor. He was the patient first and I would say pull down your pants and underwear as he was laying on the bed. He would always protest at first and then take down his pants and underwear to his ankle. I would examine his penis and say roll over onto your belly. At this time I would say I have to examine your rectum and take your temp. This may hurt but you need to be a big boy and stay still. I would spread his bottom wide and look inside. He would move around and pretend to cry. Then I would insert a popsicle stick to take his temp. He would always get a spanking after the 5 minutes of it being deep for crying. Then it was my turn.

Yes. As far as I can remember, at the pediatrician my temperature was always taken orally. At home, it was not.

At my pediatrician the policy was to take rectal temps until the child's 9th birthday. After that it was up to the parents and if the child was on oral at home, then they got oral at the doctor. My mother tried to do oral with me when I was 6 1/2. I wasn't that keen and felt the thermometer pinched under my tongue. I lost concentration and the thermometer dropped from my mouth and shattered on the floor. It was back to rectal at home for another 18 months and I did master oral at home right around my 8th birthday. I probably had two visits to the doctor in between my 8th and 9th birthday and my temperature was taken in my bottom. My younger sister had no problem mastering oral at home before she was 7. That did not help her at the doctor as her temperature was taken in her bottom there until she turned 9.

My memories of an RT at home are very few and always as a very young child. Conversely, it was not the case at the pediatrician's office. It was the only way temperatures were measured and no amount of protest or blushing spared you from having my briefs pulled down!

At home only RT by mom till 16. At the doctors office oral and under arm method was used from age 7-8.

Mine was rectal until the age of three both at home and the doctor.

Till about age 10 the only difference was my bed vs the doctors exam table lol. Also. I’m switched to a digital before the doctor did. I don’t remember my doctor getting the digital ones till the mid 90s mom had a bd digital thermometer when I was like 8 or 9

Mother knows best.

Am I the only one who didn't get rectal temps at home or at the doctors office? Maybe as an infant but I have no memory of either happening. I do remember temperature taking, but it was under the tongue at the doctors and under the tongue or arm at home.

First experience with rectal was around age 30 with a girlfriend. That was while Playing Doctor, strictly for fun and sexual stimulation.

Am I the only one who didn't get rectal temps at home or at the doctors office?

No, you're not alone. I have no recollection of ever having a rectal temp. All this talk of getting rectal temps makes me wonder what kind of doctors everyone else has.

@JimmyJohnson

I have doubts on stories about adult rectal temps except for heat exhaustion and someone throwing up in a medical setting.( I was offered a rectal temp once at the dr when I had a bad flu in my 20s..... declined ). But I’m surprised that kids don’t remember rectal temps growing up. I certainly had rectal at the dr growing up long after I switched at home. The sensations, embarrassment, and erections are imprinted in my brain.

Rectal temps were a “treat” for us only when we went into town. It never happened at home on the farm. If it would’ve happened at home, I doubt if it would have ended up being as big of a deal for me.

At home and at the pediatrician my temperature was always measured rectally. When I visited a General Practitioner (first at age 15) he measured my temp very seldom, and only in my ear...

The way of measuring differed between done at home and at the pediatrician office. At home it even varied between measuring from my mom and my dad. So it went like that:

- My mom told me to lay down at my side, seldom on my tummy. She was very careful while insertion, and most time she held the thermometer in place.She was that careful so I hardly recognised how far she pushed the thermometer inside me.

- My dad was quite not that careful. He inserted the thermometer quick and deep .Most time he removed it mid time and reinserted it, he sometimes twisted it to read a temporary result.

- At the pediatrician office the nurses where careful while insertion. They used lots of vaseline which felt much better than that sometimes burning baby oil at home.

- The pediatrician itself was more rough. He often took my temperature again, and after insertion which was that far as my dad did it, he pulled up my briefs/shorts to cover my bum. Unfortunately this caused an uncomfortable pressure to the thermometer, too, which stuck in my bum.

My mother did it with me on my stomach. My Dad was military so it was done behind a screen either over my Mother's lap of the nurses lap.

My mother never took my temperature rectally. My pediatrician did till i was 7 and i had a lifetime's worth during a two week hospital stay amongst other rectal violations also when i was 7. I dont think she liked doing it.

The only difference was that at the pediatrician one has to lay face down on the exam table whereas at home I was laying on my side for the measurement.

Nope. My mom was my pediatrician. The only difference was her exam rooms were stocked with Vaseline to lubricate the rectal thermometers.

At home she lubricated mine with Baby Magic Lotion. It was much easier to wipe off after she took the thermometer out she told me later in life.

RT Boy:

99% it was always vaseline as a kid, I think I may have had a temp using cold cream or noxzema at home once or twice, also surgilube at the doctor's, but usually vaseline there too.

It was always the same for me until I graduated high school. The only difference was at the pediatrician’s office I would have to turn over on the table, while at home, whether it was my mom or dad, I would have to lie across their laps. Apparently lots of people did it this way at home as well. I had my temperature taken on occasion by my aunt (mom’s sister), and sometimes by friends’ moms. When I had to stay in a hospital it was also the same. Everyone was issued their own personal thermometer which stayed by the bedside. The nurse would come in every 4 hours and have me and my roommate turn over to have our temperatures taken. The lack of privacy at the doctor’s and in the hospital was unreal.

My hospital stay was very much like yours only the nurses had a thermometer cart they pushed around. I agree at my doctor's or in the hospital they seemed to care less who saw you, bottoms up. I also recall a number of times having to pee in a bottle at the nurse's station at my doctor's, rather than being allowed to take the bottle in the bathroom.