Why can't you put an ordinary digital thermometer in your mouth?? We always have!

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

Rang my mum to ask if she'd pick us up a new one as most of us are ill (and I don't trust the in-the-ear jobby I invested in last year.. there's no way it's accurate) and asked mum to get an ordinary digital thermometer, you knows the ones, about the size of a pen, cost about £3-5.

Mum described them to the lady as the ones you can put under your arm or in your mouth as I described them to her.. Lady In Superdrug says you can NOT put them in your mouth!!

Why not??

We always have and we haven't spontaneously combusted yet!! I rinse the ends briefly under a tap as well!! And they generally last years on one battery!

I thought you could.

They do in hosps - it is just that they use a disposable plastic sheath thing over the end for hygeine reasons. Feels disgusting in your mouth...

I have always used mine in the mouth & I'm positive that it stated that on the leaflet when I bought it too.
You get correct reading too.
I do underarm with it too & get same reading, so must be correct reading.
Dr's use it in mouth dont they?

I got one in my ovulation predictor kit when I was trying for the dds

you had to put it in your mouth

why don't you trust ear one .. you take 3 x 1 second readings and use the average

dunno about mouth or not though

we always used them in the mouth in hospitals when I nursed.
If someone has decreed that they are dangerous them that's a load of bollocks

Yes I thought she was talking out of her backside, stoooopid woman. I have no patience today. My mum rang from Superdrug and said "Are you sure you want this one? The lady here says you definitely can't use it orally!"

Grr and sigh.

i dont know the ones you mean

the ear ones tho, were used at the hospital i worked at,b ut were found to be hugely innaccurate and were withdrawn. so you are right not to trust them

show me a link

it may be because every once in a while you get a total eejit who has a very hot drink of tea, and with liquid still in mouth puts mercury thermometer in to see how hot tea in mouth is. If the eejit were to do this, the thermometer would shatter, leaving drops of poisonous mercury in eejit's mouth.

Not that I have any personal experience of this, you understand

I guess you mean one of these...

So the instructions are wrong when they state

"This digital thermometer measures body temperature in Oral, Underarm or Rectal use."

here nailpolish

doyou know what i think it is?

its cos they can be used rectally and obviously using the same instrument for oral and rectal is NOT a good idea

at work we have seperate ones for oral and rectal

thats the ONLY reason i can think of

and squonk

its been about 15 years since thermometers contained mercury

Yes that's right ML.. sorry was on another thread venting about crap English accents.. (I am on a Brufen high but headed back to the sofa I fear.. my house is chaos.. )

Yes meant to say I wasn't talking about mercury thermometers from way back when dinosaurs ruled the earth..

And does anyone really take their temperature rectally at home???

We have a Boots one like you describe in your OP (similar to the ones in nailpolish's link) -that says in the instructions you can use it orally or under the arm.

We bought it about 7 yrs ago though so maybe the guidelines have changed since then (for whatever bizarre H&S reason??)

well, it was a while ago

shiny

its the most accurate way to take a baby's temp

It's because you might bite it, harm yourself and sue them.

Squonk, it's the top of the thermometer that shatters, not the bulb. ()

What about the old-fashioned, non-digital, very slow 'mercury thermometer', Nailpolish? You can still get them. Do they contai something diffrernt now?

you can still get them?

i thought they were made illegal (or not illegal, the next best thing)

they are certainly banned in hospitals

i bit the end off of a mercury thermometer when i was about 6. my mum didn't half panic was made to rinse mouth lots with water!

actually PC i think someone invented one that looked and acted like a mercury one but contained somethng different

or maybe im imagining it

in some private hospitals they use the paper disposible oral ones - i really like them

single use only

as i said before dont trust the ear ones - ERI threw out their after testing

we have a forehead temp thingy which has happy faces and sad faces depending on your temp. My GP uses one of these too although his has numbers not smileys

I bought one at some point in the last 6y (ie since starting a family). I do recall a salesman trying ti sell m an over-priced in-ear hermometer at a baby show when I was very pg with no1, telling me that mercury thermometers were going to be banned ib the EU, but I tooj it as salespitch nonsense.

I'm not squeamish about admistering medical procedures rectally; I know how to give rectal Diazapam to stop a seizzure and have done so on DS, but have never personally felt the need to take any of my kids' temperatures rectally, and they have all been scary with fevers/had febrile episodes etc.at some point.

I would be afraid of hurting a baby, routinely taking a temp like that. But then I'm not a nurse. Just a mother with a great many different medical issues in her family

yes shiny i agree

the other reason might be that you share the thermomeoter with other people and pass things on?

i know one thing, itll be to protect the manufacturers probably, for insurance purposes

But those instructions I linked to beloiw give you instructions for taing temp orally....