Why do people refer to rectal temperature as the “baby way”

Why do people refer to rectal temperature as the “baby way”?

Rectal temperatures are not just for babies.

People of all ages can and do take their temperature rectally or (in the bottom)

I’m a woman in my 40’s and I do and always have taken or had my temperature taken rectally!

It’s not just for babies!

And IT IS THE MOST ACCURATE WAY TO GET A TEMPERATURE!

So stop calling it “the baby way”!

I bet in many cases those referring to taking rectal temperatures as "the baby way" are doing so as a way to infantilize the process as part of age play. If they're doing so as part of taking the temperature of an actual child maybe it's just using that manner of speech with a younger kid.

Because people suck.

The only time I remember it being called "The Baby Way" was when we were kids and were playing doctor with one of our friends. She was the daughter of our Sunday School teacher, and she said her mom always took her temperature "The Baby" way.

She also said her mom would spank her if she failed to memorize Bible verses, but that's another story..

In the 60’s and 70’s and before, infants and toddlers were mostly who received a rectal thermometer. The rectal thermometer was simply referred to as a “baby thermometer,” probably by most of the general public who were very uncomfortable saying “rectal.”

It’s a derogatory term invented by kids to shame other kids who got their temps taken that way at older ages back when rectal and oral were still the primary methods of checking temperatures. Babies are completely unable to hold a thermometer under their tongue, therefore the only method used on them was rectal; adults on the other hand, particularly in American culture, usually had their temps taken orally. So somewhere in between there was a graduation from rectal to oral being the primary method, and it varied a lot; some kids got switched as young as 5, while others continued to get rectal temps taken to age 18. Most parents at the time went along with whatever method the doctor used though sometimes it was the reverse.

As a consequence, kids that promoted at younger ages felt a sense of pride and adultness about it and would tease kids who had their temps taken rectally at older ages by calling it that. I had my temp taken rectally until age 12, and knew some of my friends got switched earlier and it did make me feel like a baby to think about it. They were being treated as an adult, trusted to hold the thermometer under their tongue, while I was laying on a table with the nurse holding a thermometer in my bare bottom. Pretty babyish!

I'm wondering what country you are from and if this is the way they take your temperature in the hospital too. Because even when I had a pediatrician I had mine taken orally instead of rectally.

I live in the United States of America and I never remember it ever being common for doctors to take rectal tempatures with adults in this country. Is rectal tempature really a normal thing for adults in clinics in other countries? I find it hard to believe it is.

@DrPatient It used to be a thing in France that everybody would have temperature measured rectally in hospitals. I'm talking 1970s-1980s. However this was very different from the method used in the US: older kids or adults would be asked to insert the thermometer in their anus themselves, under bedsheets, which preserved dignity.

It was called the "Baby way " because thats the way Temps were taken when you were a Baby. It wasn't until you were older were you given a choice.

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@temptaker4u Impressive she was so frank and did not fear getting teased.

@Luvbottomtemps ,

Great answer to the post!

I still use this method to take my rectal temperature especially in the diaper changing position. Still accurate to this day and I enjoy every minute of as the thermometer takes its time to register my temperature. When I was a kid at least go to the paediatrician wearing diapers, so I get treated like a baby. This included a further examination from head to toe pants pulled down have my diaper checked by nurs. Sometimes in my diaper is wet or full I will get a diaper change, that’s why the at the paediatrician I wore Huggies or pampers every time the nurse saw the top part of my diaper on my pants, then pulled my pants inside and see if i made anything in my diaper. I still wear Huggies and pampers diapers and take my temperature like a baby.

I prefer rectal for several reasons. First and foremost I love the feeling of the insertion. Second, you can still carry on a conversation with a thermometer in your bottom. I have trouble keeping my mouth closed for several minutes.

I think the choice of calling it the baby way can have many meanings. Traditionally the method is used on infants and babies so that explains the common reason it’s referred as the baby way. However for some it is a method to tease a sibling or even used by a parent to embarrass a child who is acting out having it taken a more age appropriate way and in the fetish world of course we use it for all kinds of fun things 😈

Born in late 68 Growing up in the 70’s 80’s at home and going to the pediatrician office . Mom and anyone of the nurses just said let’s get your temperature. Mom would get the thermometer shake it say let get your underwear down lay on your stomach. Nurse about the same way you pretty much knew that’s the way the temperature taking was going go . The last time I got it taking that way I was 15 at the hospital emergency room.

When the wife and I play Doctor we pretty much call it the old fashion way with a glass thermometer. I just walk in tell her I need to put the thermometer in her bottom .

I just like to call it what it is... rectal.

In Germany, it is not the general measurement of the buttocks that is referred to as the baby method, but rather the measurement in the diaper changing position. Here you lie on your back and the legs are held upwards so that you can reach the anus with the thermometer.

I don't like when people refer it to the "baby way" either. Doesn't matter if you're a baby or not, if you wanna take your temperature rectally then you should without having it called the baby way. I take mine rectally cause I have tourettes and sometimes it's tough to keep something in my mouth and rectal is the most accurate, and I do enjoy it. Rectal all the way for me! 🌡️🍑

I think the choice of calling it the baby way can have many meanings. Traditionally the method is used on infants and babies so that explains the common reason it’s referred as the baby way.

@Frankieenemaman I agree with your point. It is the way temperatures were taken and hence the name, which I had never heard of before this topic.

To be older and have that method used can be seen as degrading or embarrassing. Maybe then being part of the attraction for some as adults.

I think ''baby thermometer'' sounds better than ''rectal thermometer'' or ''ass thermometer''.

In France ,fifty years ago, In my familly, and most people around me, rectal temperature was the norm andI I think it still is. Whan people said: ''I take my temperature'', it was impliied it was taken rectally.

It was called the "Baby way " because thats the way Temps were taken when you were a Baby. It wasn't until you were older were you given a choice.

I didn’t have a choice when I went to the paediatrician either of I was wearing a diaper or underwear it was still always taken rectally because apparently my parents requested that only my temperature be taken rectally made a change into my file I didn’t mind I loved the treatment of being treated like a baby. Hopped on exam table pants taken down legs up and diaper or underwear taken off and thermometer inserted into my bottom. Sometimes if I was in a Huggies or Pampers diaper the nurse would change it for me. So yeah I enjoyed being treated like a baby.

@Frankieenemaman I agree with your point. It is the way temperatures were taken and hence the name, which I had never heard of before this topic.

To be older and have that method used can be seen as degrading or embarrassing. Maybe then being part of the attraction for some as adults.

Absolutely I know when I am the patient or in a bdsm scene the submissive being told my temperature will be taken the baby way does so much to my mindset and headspace 😀

When I was a kid, after a certain age, most of my friends and classmates had their temperature taken orally. I was among them. I thought it was strange when I discovered that some of my older friends, even during the teen years, were still getting their temperature taken rectally. I even knew a 19 year old college student who was admitted to the pediatric ward during minor surgery, and complained that her temperature was taken rectally, even though she protested. When I was older, I found out that rectal temperature was the norm in most European countries, at home, and in the hospital. Again, I learned that it’s not because someone can’t hold a thermometer under their tongue.

Growing up it was never referred to as the baby way. It was just the way it was done - for most kids and adults. I remember it was possible to buy oral thermometers in the pharmacy, but they were generally seen as less accurate.

Where I grew up in the Rapid City South Dakota area of the United States, there was only a couple of pediatricians and most of the kids in the area where I lived went to the same one and he recommended rectal temperatures to at least age 13. I turned 13 in 1971 and nobody, I recall called it the baby way because it was the only way. 🌡️

When I was growing up and my temperature was taken rectally. It was never referred to as the baby way.

It was just way my temperature was taken growing up.

I can’t imagine nurses who need to take an adult’s temperature rectally out of necessity would call it the “baby way.” And as a mom with two daughters growing up who needed to take a rectal when my older spiked a fever after oral surgery and my younger had pneumonia first year college, I never called it the “baby way” either. That’s what rectal thermometers are for and why there are “red” capped temperature probes in hospitals.