Why All Mums Need A Baby Ear Thermometer

When both adults and babies get ill it is perfectly normal for the body temperature to rise. There are many theories as to why this takes place. However, one of the favored theories is that this is because the rate at which microorganisms reproduce slows down as body temperature increases, therefore enabling your body to fight off the illness quickly.

Monitoring your baby's core body temperature during illness if of critical importance. Firstly it gives you a reliable means of following the progress of the illness. If temperature is rising then the illness is getting worse, if it is falling then the illness is getting better. However, perhaps more importantly, your baby's body can sometimes over react to illness and body temperature can rise far too high. This is very dangerous and can lead to fitting, coma, brain damage or even death. It's therefore important to have access to a reliable thermometer to know when to seem medical assistance.

One of the most common ways of measuring a baby's temperature is via the rectal route. Many babies dislike this intensely and will resist. It also takes time to obtain a reliable temperature measurement as you have to wait for the thermometer bulb to rise to body temperature through the slow process of conduction. Rectal body temperature also lags behind core body temperature so you aren't always getting an up to date measurement.

The baby ear thermometer offers some significant advantages. Firstly it simply involves inserting a small sensor into the ear canal which causes minimal discomfort. Secondly, the ear canal is a great site to take a reliable reading - the ear drum is believed to share the same blood supply as the section of the brain that controls core body temperature.

However, perhaps the most significant advantage of baby ear thermometers is the speed at which they return a reliable reading - seconds as opposed to minutes. This is possible due to their mechanism of action. They monitor invisible radiation emitted by all warm objects called infra red. Through complex electronics and algorithms the amount of infra red radiation is converted into a reading almost instantaneously.

Many are put off buying a baby ear thermometer due to concerns that it will be difficult to use. This is in fact far from the truth. Although each device works in a slightly different way it's literally just a case of inserting the device into the ear canal and pushing a button. And that's it! Some will even provide feedback to confirm that the thermometer is in the correct place and that a reliable reading has been taken.

Due to their ease and speed of use baby ear thermometers have been the favored choice of professionals for some time now. it's only recently that the price has come down by enough to make them accessible for home use.

Baby ear thermometers are a tremendous invention.  They are fast, accurate and cause minimal discomfort to your baby.  They can also be used on the rest of the family including adults and the elderly.  They are no so cheap that no home with a young child should be without one.