Best Oral/Underarm Baby Thermometer: OCCObaby Baby Thermometer

The OCCObaby Baby Thermometer is both affordable and accurate. It takes oral, underarm and rectal temps.

FYI: we only recommend using oral or underarm thermometers after one year of age. Because fever in babies under one year can be significantly more dangerous than in babies over one, pediatricians prefer parents use a rectal thermometer for the most accurate reading.

After one year of age, any temperature (taken orally or underarm) of over 100° F should be considered a fever—notify your doctor ASAP. Pro tip: your doc will want to know what other symptoms your child has in addition to a fever. This helps the doc better diagnose the cause of the fever.

Best High Tech Baby Thermometer: Kinsa QuickCare Smart Thermometer

If you’d like to your track your baby’s temperature on a phone app, the Kinsa QuickCare Thermometer does just that—the thermometer connects via Bluetooth to your iOS or Android phone.

We found the Kinsa to be accurate and the app well designed. If your child has multiple illnesses (or you have more than one baby), the app helps keep track of all that, including medications.

Accuracy on the Kinsa is excellent, based on our testing. The latest version of the Kinsa thermometer now displays the temperature right on the device—an improvement over the previous version that required a wired connection to a smartphone to see the temp.

Overall, the Kinsa is recommended as a good techy solution to see if your baby has a fever.

Best Baby Rectal Thermometer: FridaBaby Quick-Read Digital Rectal Thermometer 

The best thing about a baby thermometer designed for rectal use is the shorter probe—this insures it isn’t inserted too far! And this model by FridaBaby does an excellent job, say our readers. We liked the easy-to-read display. Quick and accurate.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing thermometers since 2005. In addition to hands on testing of thermometers, we consulted with top pediatricians on the best bets. Our staff pediatrician, Dr. Ari Brown of the Baby 411 book series, was also quite helpful in our quest to find the best baby thermometer. Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Baby Bargains is your independent and unbiased source for expert baby gear reviews. We’ve been writing and reviewing baby gear since 1994. Yes, that long!