Sometimes it is very important to check your baby’s temperature every 20-30 minutes

As a young mother I am very keen on all the tips and advise I can get to keep my little baby girl safe and healthy. I was particularly interested in a story a collegae of mine told me about something she had read. It is about a young child in India, where COVID-19 is still very much a problem. With 28 weeks the little girl had been prematurely born. So the doctors in India had to fight to keep her alive. But now she is 8 months old and she is doing fine. But with COVID-19 her parents were very worried about her, because the virus was everywhere in her neighbourhood. So what could they do to keep her safe? The situation became even worse when the little girl’s father and her older sister became infected.

But luckily her mother was a very clever woman. Because she had heard somewhere that a very important signal that your child might be infected is the fact that the body temperature of your child starts to rise. So she decided to start measuring her daughter’s temperature every 20 to 30 minutes. Because with two infected siblings in the same household the chance that the infant would become infected as well was very real.

But how do you measure a young child’s temperature so often without the child becoming very annoyed by – for example – pushing the thermometer into her ear 3 times per hour? Luckily that was not necessary because a neighbour who felt very sorry for the young baby had given her mother a Temporal Artery Thermometer. These thermometers are very comfortable to a child because you can take their temperature by simply swiping the thermometer gently across their forehead. You can even do that while they are asleep.

At first the temperature of the girl was stable. But after a few hours her temperature started to rise. After a while she had a fever. So, her mother dressed her baby girl and took her to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, there was still a bed for her available and within a few days she started to recover.

The important lesson I learned from this story: if you suspect your child is starting to get sick always check their temperature often using a thermometer that is non-invasive and very comfortable to them. That way you can be sure you detect any fever as soon as possible.

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