how often do you take temperature?

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

When your child is poorly how often do you take their temperature? my ds has a temp and i want to keep an eye on it but don't want to be obsessive. how often is too often?

It depends how high it is. If it's 39/40, I take it every 15 mins or so to check that calpol or ibuprofen is working. Once it's below that, I don't take it much, just keep an eye on them. You can usually tell if it starts to rise again.

he is 18m and it was 39.6 (in ear) at 13:10, gave calpol and half hour later it was 38.2. he's asleep now and temp still the same.

Not at all. Go by how the child is. Thermometers can panic you or give you false reassurance.

you may be right seeker, his temp is still about 38 but after his little power nap he's running around eating a biscuit

Never, don't even have a reliable thermometer. What seeker said, maybe, though am more careful since I got hospitalised with temp of 40.9.

I am a militant non thermometer owner. I was panicked into buying one at the height of the swine flu hysteria because I was worried about one of us getting it and taking it into my mother's care home- but I've given it away. So in 17 years of parenthood, I have owned a thermometer for about 2 months!

only when it appears to be very high.

Even then- what good would knowing exactly how high do you?

My in ear thermometer gives such random results I don't bother. Just feel with my hand.

Also paracetamol makes my temp and I think DDs go up before it goes down, so to much testing just makes you think it isn't working.

I have two dcs, 4 and 8. I have never taken their temperatures.

Because a very high temperature can be dangerous to a child.

A temperature is a sign of the body fighting an infection. On the paediatric wards they use the ear thermometers so they cannot be that unreliable. I have an ill child and a temperature of over 38 requires hospitalisation. If it starts to creep up then I am expected to take his temperature every half hour.

Some people feel better knowing the temperature of their child, some prefer not to. Some of us have to know otherwise we would be being negligent.

It is useful if I have a parent phoning me and saying their child has a temperature, to know what it is.

Underarm thermometers are better for babies than the ear thermometers, it's harder to get an accurate result as their ear canals are small.