Sarah G., a mother of three, told us this story:

One day my baby caught a bad cold, and she was crying, up all night, and had a fever.

The pediatrician told me there was nothing to worry about, but he asked me to monitor her temperature and call her if it started to rise.

The only thermometer I had was one of those old-fashioned glass ones that you had to shake and put in your mouth.

I couldn’t do that with the baby, so the only choice was to put it in her armpit, or use it rectally, which I absolutely didn’t want to do.

It made me nervous to take my child’s temperature. She started to cry and squirm around when I tried to take her temperature under her armpit.

I didn’t want to spread germs with the thermometer, so I sterilized the thermometer with alcohol each time I wanted to take her temperature.