You can take a temperature reading from a number of different locations on the body including the mouth, ear, armpit, rectum and forehead. Depending on where you take a temperature reading, you can get varying results. This is perfectly normal, as temperatures differ at different body zones. What’s important is that you measure your little one’s temperature from the same site each time during an illness, so you can easily compare whether their temperature is the same, higher or lower.
Our diagram aims to explain what is considered a correct temperature reading for different body zones with Braun thermometers.
Examples of correct readings at different locations by different thermometer types equivalent to reference value of 37 oC measured orally.
To help you work out whether your child’s temperature reading is normal, elevated or high, some Braun thermometers have a nifty feature that helps to remove the guesswork. Each thermometer has a simple colour indicator, whereby the display shows green if no fever, yellow if the temperature is elevated and red alert for a possibly high fever.
The ThermoScan® 7 goes one step further too, as it features a piece of technology called Age Precision®. Most parents aren’t aware that the definition of fever changes depending on the age of the child, yet the ThermoScan® 7 allows you to set the age of your child (0-3 months, 3-36 months and 36 months to adult) so its much easier for you to interpret the reading quickly, accurately and easily based on the age. It also features the colour-coded indicator too!