At What Age Did Rectal Temps Stop For You

At what age did people stop receiving rectal temperatures at the doctor's office and/or home?

For me it was until I was 9 at the doctor's office and I never had it given to me at home.

I was about 50 then I had rectal temp at the hospital. At home it never stops, I took my temp rectal 1 hour ago, it said 36,8 C.

For me, they stopped around the age of 5, but I still take my own temperature rectally at home and I once had a girlfriend who liked to take it for me.

I cant remember ever having it taken that way. So probably when i was a baby.

If I understand your question, it is when and why did rectal temps become more and more restricted (i.e., less used) to the very young? One way to approach this would be to examine the medical literature. One of the most widely used physical examination texts for med students was A Guide to Physical Examination by Barbara Bates. As late as the 2nd ed. (1979) the statement is made, "For all practical purposes, rectal temperatures should be used exclusively in pediatric patients because accurate oral temperature readings are difficult to obtain even in children over 10 years of age." So it was sometime after this that rectal temps became more and more limited to the very young, probably with the introduction of the digital, then the ear thermometers. There was at the same time an increasing concern in American society for protecting the "sensitive" feelings of children, as spankings fell out of vogue at about the same time.

I've never stopped taking my temperature rectally, and I'm 67.

It's simply the most accurate, and if I feel the need to take my temperature, I might as well go for accuracy instead of comfort.

At the doctors about 15, but alot more since then !!!

They ended at age 9 and a half. Not as a matter of policy. By that point, my mother would always start by trying to take it orally. But she would often furrow her eyebrows and purse her lips when she read the result. And the fastidious side of my mother, who liked everything neat and orderly, from the measurements in her recipes to her perfectly formed calligraphy, would say, "D, I know you're not going to like this, but I'm going to have to check your temp in your tush." It happened for the last time in February, 1984. Looking back, it seems as if I had always protested, sometimes bitterly, when my mother would issue this verdict--but not this time. As if I knew that this was probably the last time, and I wanted there to be a fitting goodbye. And I've missed it ever since.

7, then started again when i was in my twenties.

I was about 4 or 5 as soon as I was able to hold a thermometer in my mouth they stopped giving me a rectal temp.

I dont ever recall having a rectal temp taken on me

My temperature was taken rectally during pediatrician exams till age 12. Also, the exam was conducted while being nude.

At the hospital about 5, but several times after this.

My girl cousin and I got them in our bare rears from my aunt (the one that kept the paddle handy) until we were well into our teens.

My mother stopped when I was about 6. We were from a European family and everybody used rectal temperatures on themselves, so thereafter I had to take my own rectal temperature myself.

I nearly got a rectal temperature from a nurse at the hospital when I was 7. I had read American comics and mistakenly believed that in the hospital they did it in the mouth. Big mistake. The nurse thought that I did not know how to take it in the butt and proposed that she do it herself the first time. I thought "hey I'm a big boy" and refused. In retrospect I should have accepted.

On one occasion, when about 10, I tried cheating and claim I had a fever when I had not, heating the thermometer with a light bulb. I got caught. Result: rectal temperature by mommy followed by a hard bare-butt spanking. Never tried again.

😳 mine stopped at 16. mom believed in the accuracy of the rectal temp, and refused to do it orally. so i had to drop my pants and shorts so it could be inserted when she felt it was necessary. but by 12 I was looking forward to her telling me we needed to check my temp. As I got older I knew she had to know I was enjoying it, but never said anything..

Probably around 6-8 for me at home and the doc.

Never had a rectal temperature before but I heard some story from my father about the old time. It seems that by the time I was born, it had no longer been used.

It stopped at home for me at age 5. But I ended up in the hospital emergency room at age 6 one night with an ear infection. They tried repeatedly to take it in my mouth but I was too irritable and cranky to keep it under my tongue. So I remember the nurse closing the exam room door while another CNA got out a red digital probe and put vaseline on it. She raised my legs and took my last ever childhood rectal temperature. That time it actually hurt and I cried alot. I was miserable and feverish, the CNA was young and probably inexperienced, and it felt like she was trying to find my gallbladder with that thick rectal probe.

It stoped at home my at 7/8 years old mor ou less.

Cheers, PatientCare

At age 12 I had rectal temp taken about 5 times at doctors office. I had to go in several times in about a months period. I had it taken couple times at another doctors office at 13 or 14 when I had sore throat or strep. My last was at home around that age or little older.

I didn't have my temperature taken rectally as a kid, but since i was 16 i have had it taken from time to time, enjoying it each time

Who says they stopped? 😄

Mine started at 11 when my step mom moved in, stopped at 19 when they got divorced. I still enjoy them and the feelings they give me

My last one would be around age 5 or so. I remember distinctly the nurse at my pediatrician's office taking it orally for the first time.

At this office, they used to take you back, get vitals, then return you to the waiting room, only to bring you and your mother back later to sit in a room and wait for the doc.

Well, I was returned to the waiting room where I told my mother triumphantly, in front of everyone else, that they had taken my temperature in my mouth, so now I was "a big boy and she did not need to take it in my bottom any more". There was much laughter, and my mother looked like she wanted to die.

It did not hurt when the nurses took it; except for having to lie there and do nothing, I did not mind it. When my mother took it, it hurt a lot. I remember laying on the living room floor, crying and fighting them trying to take my temp. I don't think she lubricated it, or at least not well. I remember her sending my father off to see if he could find some lotion, and yelling at me to relax or it would hurt more. The more she talked, the more scared I got and the more I clenched.

As an adult, I can take my oral temp four times, probe placed properly in the heat pocket, and get four different oral temps. I've tried it with different thermometers, including hospital Ivac and Diatek. I don't know what is wrong with my mouth. I have some serious medical conditions, so I get a lot of exams.

Most of the time, I wish they would take rectal temps on me. Not because it turns me on, but because I often have a low fever and it does not register on an oral temp. I realize that rectal temps are about 1F higher; I'm taking that into account here. Do enough oral temps and you will find a fever. But I'd rather have one rectal than four orals. Plus, the staff rarely listens to the patient on such things.

I do find rectal temps turn me on in a play situation, but experience has shown that play is totally different from reality. Rectal exams in play turn me on as well, and in real life they are unpleasant at best.

Plus, I consider it seriously unethical to get a medical professional to do something to you purely for your own sexual pleasure. That's totally disrespectful toward them.

If I did not think people would think I was weird, I would ask for rectal temps on me if I felt feverish. When I am okay and I know it, I don't really care if they are off by a degree...

I got my last rectal temp at the doctor's office around age 9 or 10. My mother took my temperature rectally until I was maybe 8 or 9. At the doctor's office, rectal temps were always briefs down while I was laying facedown on the exam table. At home, rectal temps by mom were laying over her lap with my jeans and briefs down unless I was sick in bed and then it was briefs down and laying facedown on the bed. The over the lap routine was just like getting spanked but without the spanking so if I was sick I was always worried when mom started pulling down my pants and underwear and bending me over her lap.

It stopped when i turned 5.. i remember it distinctly because when the nurse entered the room and pulled out the thermometer i started to take off my pants and she said.. "that's okay.. you're a big boy now." my memories are somewhat fragmented from my early childhood but i do remember finding the experience extremely pleasing. now i fantasize about having my temp. taken rectally all of the time. i am glad to see i am not alone.

They stopped around age 6.

In the pediatric section in the clinic where we used to go when i was a child, they took rectal temp from all the kids as a regular procedure and kids were seen there till the age of 12. that's the age i had my last rectal temp taken. the procedure was always the same, lying on the table face down and the nurse put some lube - the minute i felt the cold i new it was coming - and then inserting the thermometer for 2-3 minutes. the last time was embaressing for me because i'd just started to mature and had some thin but visible pubic hair. at home my mother stoped taking my temp rectally at 10 when my father told her he thinks i was a big boy for this.

2 or 3 i guess, I dont even remember it clearly, so it must be really young