Is KY or Vaseline better to lubricate the rectal thermometer

KY, or any water soluble lube is usually preferred for inserting toys or enema nozzles. Although it works just as well for rectal thermometers, there’s just something about seeing a small glob of Vaseline on the thermometer bulb that makes it special. Probably why I still have a small jar handy…..

Vaseline is the standard for me, wen I was younger my Temperature was always taken with Vaseline and I just kept using it. I tried KY a couple of time, but I don’t really like the feeling it’s to watery, it never stay on!

Vaseline if I want him to remember he had his temperature taken. Vaseline doesn't always wipe off completely. A bit of residual will remind him.

Vaseline if I want him to remember he had his temperature taken. Vaseline doesn't always wipe off completely. A bit of residual will remind him.

Vicks would be a better reminder. 😄

If using KY, are you using the KY Jelly or Liquid? I prefer the liquid, easier to clean up!

Vicks would be a better reminder. 😄

Vicks wasn't an option. The title is “Is KY or Vaseline better to lubricate the rectal thermometer”

Never tried KY before, only Vaseline which I can tell you is a good choice, I love the feeling when Vaseline melts inside of my ass. But, mostly, I use coconut oil to lubricate my rectal thermometers before I start to play. For me, coconut oil is the best choice to lubricate my ass and thermometer before rectal temperature taking.

Count me in as a member of the KY club. So much easier to clean, and it's slicker. I prefer the jelly viscosity over the liquid type.

I always use ky for a rectal temp or my finger. I recently just did buy a few tubes of surgilube to try something different. Is surgilube better than ky in everybody's experiences?

I like vaseline for rectal thermometers, but ky for enema nozzles and rubber tubes.

Try coconut oil, I like it the best, ky is ok but can get washed away very quickly since it is water based good ole petroleum jelly is fine but is always a pain to clean off the equipment and it's not good for rubber products as it breaks them down.. coconut works very well doesn't wash away super fast and cleans up easily..

If I'm doing an enema after I like Surgilube, if not then vaseline, that is what was used on me in hospital in early 1960's.

KY and the thick jelly kind and not the thin liquid kind.

I definitely like the warm, greasy sensation of Vaseline. It just lubricates a boys bottom in a way that he just feels it in there for a while, long after the thermometer is taken out.

My wife does most of the rectal temperature taking here at home. She always insists on using Vaseline on the thermometers, or any other narrow pointed instrument she needs to stick up our butts. Anything larger in diameter like an enema nozzle or colonic speculum, she says K-Y or surgilube works better. I'll take her word for it, she's never hurt me during the countless times she's stuck things up my butt or our kids' butts. Pays to have a gentle RN who's good at this.

KY is a hospital lubricant, water based. If you are doing multiple insertions i does not protect the anus from irritation. Vaseline is thicker and does protect your anus sensitive tissue from the repeated insertions and expelling. I usually use coconut oil which is pretty thick when it is stored in the fridge and works great.

Vaseline for me always.

I have always used Vaseline. My mom and gram as well as my doctor's nurse, as a kid, also used Vaseline.

As far as K-Y “being the modern replacement”- from the mid to late sixties, surgical lube was always used at the clinics I went to. It was squeezed out of white pointy tipped plastic condiment bottles that looked just like red ketchup and yellow mustard bottles. I can still hear that sputtering sound it made if it was almost empty as it was squeezed into my bare butt crack.

Surgical lube started being used as far back as 1904. I don’t recall ever seeing petroleum jelly used for RTs where I live, which is (in the actual middle of nowhere).

I do recall Vaseline being in exam rooms, but I only ever saw it applied to my little sister’s vagina lips before getting her diaper put back on.

Also: That squishy sticky feeling in one’s underpants after a childhood RT due to the drying residual surgical lube also doesn’t happen after a petroleum jellied thermometer

Vaseline works just fine, but I personally prefer good old surgical jelly.

@arttemp Did she have an irritation of the vulva? I've also heard of Vaseline being used on a recently circumcised penis.

@Pecan_nutjob I think it was just what they did every time at our clinic. She did have oversensitive skin, and still does.

I like Vaseline for thermometers. It is stickier than other lubes. I also like Vicks too. It gets your attention and let's you know other things are coming.

I also like Vicks too.

Yes, Vicks is great! I've also used Pond's cold cream.

@Pecan_nutjob Those were also the days of vinyl bloomers over cloth diapers, so a little Vaseline on the genitals provided moisture protection from urine. I remember it being applied to mine sometimes too.

When I was a small child (under 7) I only have vague recollections of temp taking. I know my mom probably took it at home and I know for a fact it was taken that way at the doctor, but the specifics don’t stand out because I didn’t care about having my temp taken rectally, it was the inevitable shot in the butt I was focused on. That’s to say, I remember Vaseline being used at home, but not sure at the doctor that wasn’t just an assumption based on what I saw at home.

The first time I really paid attention to such details was at the hospital where my tonsils were removed. I was 6 years old, and there are some specifics I remember. One was no privacy at all in the childrens ward. There were just rows of beds. Temperature time came throughout the day with the nurses pushing carts with huge jars of thermometers, wipes, and little foil packets of lube. They would go down the row pulling our covers back, pulling thermometers out, ripping open the packs, dipping the thermometer in, and putting them in our bottoms. I was still too little to be too worried about modesty, so it wasn’t as bad as it was for the older kids. The new spin was that they wiped our bottoms with some kind of waxy paper, I remember the weird feeling of it.

In my older years (7-12) I remember things more vividly as temperature time became more distasteful. The lube definitely came out of a small tube, and was put on the tip of the thermometer like toothpaste. As someone else pointed out, the nurses at the clinic definitely did NOT wipe you, and you were left with a sticky, squishy bottom for the remainder of the visit, sometimes even for the day if there was other stuff mom was doing. I can remember walking out of the exam room with a sting in my right bottom cheek and a squishy feeling between my cheeks that I was just sure everyone noticed. The one time I finally protested about not being wiped at 12, my mom ended up doing it right then and there. The embarrassment was worse than the squishy feeling!

KY is much easier to clean up, but my parents used mostly vaseline. I think the doctor used something that was KY or similar.

Growing up it was always Vaseline. And if I was feeling sick, the words “I need to take your temperature” made me feel better. Both to be cared for and for the undeniable erotic pleasure I felt. From then on Vaseline had an erotic appeal and was my goto lube for masterbation.

After discovering the slippery wonders of vaginal fluid I favored KY for masterbation.

At home my parents used Vaseline, but my pediatrician used the water soluble lube like KY. In both cases, I was given a rectal temperature.

Mom, my sisters, and mom's neighborhood lady friends all used Vaseline for my rectal temperatures. There was always a large jar in my room on top of my cabinet. It was labeled “Timmy's room-rectal temperatures only." Mom also kept several jars in each bathroom. One was always labeled “rectal temperatures only." This jar was used for rectal temperatures performed in the bathroom, or if the jar of Vaseline in my room was empty or missing. It was always up on top of the cabinets. The other jars did not have any labels on them. These were located inside the assorted cabinets and drawers. When mom had designed and created the exam room upstairs, she kept several large jars of Vaseline in the medical cabinets in the room. She labeled them “rectal temperatures only.” These jars were used for the rectal temperature training procedures inside the room.

At the clinic the nurses that took my temperature had all used Vaseline for my rectal temperature checks as far back as I could remember. In every room that I went in for my physical checkups, and sickness visits, it was always located in the cabinets above the countertop area. I remember seeing the nurses taking a rectal thermometer from containers inside the examination room refrigerator. They then walked over to the countertop area. I remember watching all the nurses reach in upper cabinets for the jar of Vaseline when they were prepping the rectal thermometer.

Later on, the nurses had changed over to a new ointment. It was in a tube-like toothpaste comes in but was a larger size. This tube was a dark blue color with white stripes on the sides. I don't know what the name of this ointment was. I remember one nurse telling mom that it was easier to use. She said when the nurses were finishing a rectal temperature check, and after the thermometer was removed from the patient's bottomhole, the temperature read, and was placed in the sink, the nurse would clean the bottomhole area with tissues. She said the ointment in the dark blue colored tube cleaned up much easier than Vaseline. I am guessing it was a lubricating ointment that the clinic ordered and received from a medical supply company with all their other items that were used at the clinic. This ointment was also kept inside the cabinets above the countertop. I also remember watching all the nurses reach in there for this dark blue colored tubed ointment when they were prepping the rectal thermometer.

At home, I always got Vaseline when I was growing up, which I still prefer. To be honest, I’m not sure what was used for lubricant for the thermometer in the hospital when I was a kid. I’m guessing Vaseline as well, but I can’t say for sure.