No Touch Thermometers

Taking a child’s temperature when you know they are unwell is often challenging.  To get an accurate reading the experience can be quite uncomfortable for the child. Quite apart from the nasty, unsettled feeling that comes with feeling sick and uncomfortable, your child also has to combat a strange object being placed inside or held firmly against their body, which often makes them wriggle, and can prevent an accurate reading.

Luckily, a range of no touch thermometers are now on the market, all of which endeavour to make taking your child’s temperature as upset-free as possible. No touch readings measure the natural infrared heat from your child’s skin, and mean temperatures can be taken while your child is asleep. Multiple readings can also be stored within the device: very useful if your child’s temperature rises and falls. They have other benefits too, as no touch thermometers can also be used to test bath water and room temperature, the heat of food and milk, and multiple surface temperatures – plus they are safer and more hygienic than invasive thermometers. Here are a few different products that tick all the boxes for us:

Tommee Tippee Multi Use Thermometer, £25 This scanning thermometer gives a fast reading in 5-8 secs, has a capacity for 25 past readings and can be viewed in Centigrade or Fahrenheit, as well as containing a fever alarm for health warnings. It is also pocket-sized, making it a great choice for on-the-go mums with under the weather babies, and switches off automatically for longer battery life. www.tommeetippee.co.uk	Mothercare Digital Fever Alert Forehead Scanner Thermometer, £32.99 This non-invasive thermometer is suitable from birth and has a red light which clearly indicates when your child's temperature is deemed to be feverish. A clear storage box makes it easy to find in an emergency. www.mothercare.com	ThermoFocus Model 0700 Thermometer, £89.99 Move the ThermoFocus towards your child’s forehead until the two LED light beams (completely harmless) converge to form a single red spot. From this distance, the thermometer will take an accurate reading in less than a second. If your child is moving or has a wet forehead, the ThermoFocus can also take readings from the neck or bellybutton, can recall the last 9 readings, and automatically switches off after 20 seconds. www.babysecurity.co.uk
BosieBoo Non Contact Forehead Thermometer, £29.49 This scanning thermometer looks more like a toy, making it less alarming for small children. Its standby mode shows the room temperature and time, and it stores 10 past readings with the time and date imprinted. It also offers a timer mode, which is great if you want to measure your baby’s heartbeat. www.amazon.co.uk	Miniland Thermo Advance Thermometer, £50 This thermometer can measure your child’s temperature with an infrared sensor from 5-8cm away, so there’s no need to wake or touch them. It retains the last 9 readings and automatically switches off after approx. 1 min to save battery life. < www.johnlewis.com

N.B. These thermometers all require batteries as they are all electrical, but the battery life is good for all products listed.

A child’s normal temperature is around 98.6 Fahrenheit/37 Celsius. If your child’s temperature rises above 100F/38C, it’s probably time to take them to the doctor. To help with parents’ fever fears, make sure you store your thermometers within easy reach, have some children’s ibuprofen handy (6mths+) and keep your local doctor and paediatrician’s numbers by the phone.

We are now offering the ThermoFocus for testing. If you would like to try it out and let us know us know how it fares, get in contact here.