Author: jonathanm1978
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:28 pm
| sodone wrote: |
| If you are taking the babys temp rectally which im gonna assume you are since thats the best way to take a newborns temp then anything in the 99s is fairly normal (Im positive any doctor will verify that). My advice is to just enjoy caring for your daughter and stop worrying. You will KNOW if something is seriously wrong.. stop waiting for something to be wrong though because thats when you’ll start pulling apart everything she does and seeing things that really arent there. Just RELAX. CONGRATS and Good Luck with your beautiful new baby!! |
Rectal is NOT the best way UNLESS the AXILLARY temp is unstable, or off by a amount that makes the temperature seem dangerous. You do NOT have to strip your baby down and violate their nether regions every time you want to know their body temp. If baby has been still, and is clothed, and hasn’t been moving around (enough to provide air flow to the underarm making that area room temp instead of body temp) then under the arm is VERY accurate. If baby isn’t clothed then it’s likely to be a bit off…
(Axillary means under the arm).
I’d like to point out that in my above posts, I mentioned being IN NICU with my baby..and the ONLY time we had to do a rectal temp was when my wife didn’t have the thermometer all the way under Reagan’s arm, and her temp came back at 97.3 (she had to have a 97.8 or higher to keep from being put back under the warmer).
That was THE ONLY time we were REQUIRED to get a rectal..
the rest of the time, her temp was taken (by nurses or by us) UNDER HER ARM.
You’ll quickly find out if you do it both ways a few times that the difference is MINIMAL unless the baby isn’t wearing warm clothing or has cool/hot air blowing on/around the shoulders to make the temp fluctuate.
Far as fever goes, we’ve been doing it long enough that we can just feel the babies forehead or ears and tell ..and you can also just feel of their tummy and see if it’s warmer than the rest of their body. Usually that’s a dead-giveaway that they have a fever.
Since my last posting here in this thread, we’ve been able to bring our baby home..and are now enjoying her all to ourselves without having to share her with nurses & doctors.
