The rule of thumb, according to the instructions, is to insert about halfway in the rectum, or up to the arrow mark. Probably just stop when you feel resistance, or hear the word "ow." You want to avoid having the thermometer get lost up there, or prevent it from falling out.
It happened both ways, sometimes the doctor or nurse would hold it and sometimes they’d leave me laying there with it sticking out.
Thermometer inserted by the nurse and then she always pulled my pants up and over the glass in order to hold it in place.
I have seen posts on underwear pulled backup over the thermometer. This never happened to me, but it seems to me, I could be wrong, but there could be some danger with this practice, it could put pressure on the thermometer in the wrong direction, which I think It could in the right circumstances harm the rectal wall.
I was lying on my side in bed while a home health nurse was taking my rectal temperature. (I had undergone surgeries for serious injuries, including a broken jaw, in an accident.) I suddenly began to cough and couldn't stop. Angie the nurse placed one of her gloved hands on my bottom and held the thermometer between her fingers to keep it from popping out. I still remember that from years ago, because her gentle hand was comforting I felt it a fleeting moment of excitement with another woman that I never experienced before.
I remember it very well , always held in place by nurse/mom like a cigarette centered of fingers. Theoretically it gives you you maximum control of thermometer.
Not sure when I was a very young child what happened exactly. Guessing that our mom held the rectal thermometer in as we were bent over her lap. The last time that I got a rectal temp I was 11 or 12 and it was in a military clinic and there for a physical exam. I had already stripped to my briefs and the nurse came by and told my mom that she needed to do a rectal temp on me. I knew exactly what was coming because I remembered the last time that I was sick and at this clinic, it was the same routine. Except this time I wasn't sick and wasn't expected a rectal temp as part of a physical. The nurse told me to lay on my stomach on the exam table and once I did that, she pulled my briefs down and put the rectal thermometer in. I was very embarrassed to be getting a rectal temp at that age and kept my head facing down the whole time that the thermometer was in. The nurse left the thermometer in while she was doing whatever she was doing with the other boys in the exam bay. I wouldn't have been as embarrassed if I hadn't been close to my teen years and if there hadn't been an audience to see all this. Not only other boys in the exam bay but also several moms including mine sitting in chairs along the wall of the bay watching everything that was going on. The nurse came back by my table several minutes later. It felt like a long time to be face down on the table with my briefs around my ankles and a thermometer up my butt. She pulled the thermometer out, read it, and pulled my briefs back up. Then I was told to sit back on the table. I was seated facing my mom and the other moms so I was red in the face from that humiliation. It got worse when the doctor arrived and did my exam. At the end of the exam, I was standing in front of the table, briefs all the way down again while the doc checked me for a hernia. Same audience for that. Mom and the other moms. I thought I was too old for that but this was the 70s. Every mom there had a boy who was getting examined for whatever and none of us wearing anything other than our underpants. No gowns in those days. Modesty for boys in front of their mothers or anyone else was probably thought to be silly.
In my experience, usually the thermometer was held in place, but on occasion it would be left sticking out if the nurse got called away.
As far as I can remember, when my rectal temperature was taken by my mother, it was allways left sticking out.Today, when we use thermometers with my girlfriend, it is usualy held in to allow for some playing with them.
Mom just inserted the Vaseline coated thermometer and left it in place, no holding it. I really liked the feel of the thermometer alone, and since my mom never talked during temperature time I got to concentrate solely on the building pleasure of the rectal temp. A hand might have distracted me, not sure since I never had it held in place while I was a kid.
Held in-My mother would pinch my butt cheeks together and hold the thermometer at the same time. That little sucker wasn't going anywhere!!
My mom always left me lying on my tummy with the thermometer sticking out. She would take it out half way through my temp, read it and reinsert it. I always felt very humiliated, and my bottom was greasy with an excess of petroleum jelly.
For most of my pediatric exams, it was always held in by the nurse. As I got older and had more control, the nurse or doctor had me lay on my side and there was less pressure to expel the thermometer. As such, it would be inserted and left there without holding. My knees were bent or one leg raised to my chest exposing my anus for insertion. I never much liked it if the digital one was used and asked to lean over onto the table. Then I had trouble and it would slip out so the nurse had to hold it in position. Often this was the case prior to receiving an injection.
They always held it in place. I always had to lay (actually I was forced, because i was always fighting like hell) on the back with legs pushed back.
The persons who ever took my temperature always held it in place. I found this method was more uncomfortable, because the person who took your temp often placed his/her hand on your bare bottom during the process, and tended to slightly move or push on the thermometer, causing you felt the tip of the thermometer firmly inserted in your butt hole.
My Mom would insert the thermometer , but would not hold it. However if I pushed it out, or it slid out she would push it back in.
During the rectal temperatures I take, if she is on her tummy I will 'adjust' it every 30 seconds or so as we carry out the ''how about his weather'' small talk, just to make her aware that our conversation has not in the least distracted my attention as to what is happening. If she is asked to bend over the table onto her elbows, I will sit on the stool behind her, slide her panties down and insert the thermometer. It needs to be held, adjusted and pressure applied the entire time in this position.
The enema nurse should always hold the rectal thermometer all the way in and in place, turning and rotating it for 20-30 minutes before each enema.
I have had it done both ways. I like it both ways. When growing up the nurse would hold my cheeks together to make sure it did not come out.
I remember at my Pediatricians office My temperatures were always taken by the nurse before my doctor came into the exam room. The nurse would always get me undressed, take my vitals, lay me on my belly slide my underpants all the way off. She would then tell me it's time to check your temp young man. The room always had a breeze that I would feel on my butt.She would open my butt cheeks and smear Vaseline from the tip of my crack down to my balls and then she would lube up my rectum inside and take her finger out. Then insert the thermometer deep inside. She would stand at the side of the table with one finger on the thermometer and the others holding my back side cheeks closed all the while. Once she took the thermometer out she would pry open my cheeks and wipe the jelly from the exterior and I would feel her finger scoop out my rectum from jelly. It was embarrassing. Then off the table to be weighed nude of course. All before Dr. D entered.Then back up on the table laying down on my back waiting for Dr. D nervously.
When playing the taker should always hold the thermometer and play with it by twisting or reinserting.