Patient's question:
My baby was born prematurely, at 7 months and 3 weeks. They spent a month in an incubator and are now almost 60 days old. Over the past two days, I've noticed that my baby's body temperature is around 36.8–37°C during the day, but it rises to 37.5°C at night. They also haven't been drinking milk well (the mother doesn't have milk, so the baby is drinking premature infant formula). Due to jaundice, they are now taking two doses of Yinzhi Huang oral liquid and probiotics daily.Current Condition:
- Body temperature: Normal?
- Previous treatment and outcomes: None.
Questions:
- How can I tell if the body temperature is normal?
- What could be causing the temperature fluctuations?
- What should I do?
Doctor's answer:
The normal range of body temperature is the relatively stable and uniform temperature in the deep parts of the body, known as deep body temperature. In contrast, the surface temperature is affected by various factors, fluctuates significantly, and exhibits greater differences, referred to as surface temperature. In clinical diagnosis, the term "body temperature" refers to the average deep body temperature. Generally, the temperatures of the mouth (sublingual), rectum, and armpit are taken as representative values, with rectal temperature being the closest to deep body temperature.Normal values:
- Oral (sublingual) temperature: 37°C (range 36.3–37.2°C)
- Rectal temperature: 37.5°C (0.3–0.5°C higher than oral temperature)
- Axillary temperature: 36.0°C (range 35.8–36.3°C).