Kinsa Smart Thermometer Stick
Do you have a thermometer in your house? Have you tried to check your kids temperature lately? When it comes to sick kiddos, and even sick adults, knowing their temperature can make a big difference. But your thermometer just tells you a number. And getting a little one to let you check… that’s a whole other ball game! So, imagine this: a thermometer that is safe, fun to use, keeps track of the readings, and tells you what the numbers mean! The Kinsa Smart Thermometer does all this and more!
Knowing their temperature can help you know why they are acting miserable, know if the ibuprofen and tylenol are helping, and know when to take them to the doctor. Micah gets super tired with even a low fever. Emersyn gets super fussy. Both had colds with low fevers lately, what perfect timing for the arrival of my Kinsa Thermometer! I instantly fell in love with this, both as a mom and as a nurse!
Kinsa Thermometer: Basics
The Kinsa Thermometer comes in an awesome little case for easy portability that includes the thermometer, extension cord, and setup piece. The thermometer itself is awesome: it’s blue (white is kid-scary) and super flexible so I don’t have to worry about a rigid stick hurting my wiggly squiggly ball of boogers as I’m trying to get it under her arm!
Kinsa Thermometer: Setup
The Kinsa Thermometer attaches to your smart phone and communicates with an app. The setup is super simple with an included black connection piece. The app actually walks you step-by-step through videos and instructions for setup. Then you can either take a temperature right away or set up profiles for multiple people.
Kinsa Thermometer: Use
One of my favorite parts of the Kinsa, as a mom, is taking a temperature! I can hook it directly to my phone or use the extension cord. Hit Take a Temperature, wait a second for it to recognize the Kinsa attached (and make sure the volume is turned up since it’s in the headphone jack), and then select oral, underarm or rectal and check the temperature. Here’s the fun part: POP the BUBBLES!!! The phone turns into a screen of bubbles with a progress bar at the top. Your kid gets to play while the Kinsa works. The suddenly all the bubbles pop and you know the temperature!
After use, you can remove it, either clean it or remove the cover (standard thermometer probe covers fit), and put it back in it’s case for next time. Or check another person.
Kinsa Thermomteter: Reading the Numbers
The Kinsa takes all the guess work, all the work in general, out of deciphering the numbers! It will tell you the temperature reading, show you where it rates on a colorful scale, and tell you if it’s normal, high, or really high. Then you get to select other symptoms your child has like cough, vomiting, etc. There are lots of symptoms to choose from, and if you can’t find the ones you want you can type in a note afterwards. The note function is also great for including pictures and noting when you gave medications!
Now here’s my favorite part as a nurse: it tells you what to do next! The Kinsa tells you what to do (fluids and rest versus call the doctor), what to watch for the might warrant a trip to the doctor, and has links to Mayo Clinic resources about fever. I might be biased since I work at Mayo, but I LOVE Mayo’s internet resources for just about everything health-related.
My only problem with Kinsa’s advice is that it doesn’t recommend giving Tylenol or Ibuprofen. It recommends against aspirin, which is good because that can cause serious side effects in children, but I wish it would add a bit about giving a weight-appropriate dose of Tylenol or Ibuprofen (as long as you’ve never been told not to by a medical professional). Kinsa does tell me to call the doctor when the temperature gets high, and then the doctor’s office would surely tell me to give a medication, so that’s good advice without “prescribing” medication.
Kinsa Thermometer: Tracking the Numbers
As a nurse, we are also taught that watching trends is important. It’s important to know if the medications are helping, it’s important to know if the person is gradually getting worse or better, and it’s important to track the course of an illness. As a busy mom, I never have a piece of paper to write down my kiddos temperatures of symptoms and I don’t have the sanity to remember it all over the course of a few days. The Kinsa takes all this out of the process: it tracks everything you tell it and shows you a timeline right in your child’s profile. There are little faces for each symptoms and the temperature reading right there, easy to look back at and review, easy to show the doctor if you get to the point of needing to go in, or easy to reassure yourself that things are improving even when your brain can’t function after a long night of puke-cleaning and booger-wiping.
Kinsa Thermometer: Cons
Other than not telling when to give medication, the only con I can think of is that I can free text a symptom or note initially when I put in the other symptoms. I easily can when I go back into that reading. I imagine they could change this with an update, so hopefully they will.
I noticed on my Android that it does glitch once in a while. I tell it to take the temperature and it tells me it’s not connected. I just unplug the cord, plug it back in, and it works. No problem. Since I just switched to an iPhone, I haven’t had any glitches.
The case can be a little difficult to close if you don’t wrap the extension cord around it correctly. Not a big deal, just takes an extra second.
Kinsa Thermometer: Overall Review
I LOVE the Kinsa Smart Thermometer Stick. Love it. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another thermometer. It’s easy to use, works well, and tells me just about everything I need to know. From a nurse’s perspective I love it: it’s educational and thorough. From a mom’s perspective I love it: it’s easy and fun and tracks the readings and notes so I don’t have to remember. Check it out for yourself online as well as on Facebook and Twitter! OR…
Win a Kinsa Smart Thermometer!
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This giveaway ends March 16th, 2016 at midnight.
This would be for my daughter.
It would be for my daughter, who’s my first child. I don’t have the experience yet to know when to panic and when not to, so I tend to freak out and call my mom or the pediatrician every time she’s got a temperature. It would be nice to have the reassurance of the Mayo Clinic’s advice, as well as the app’s temperature tracking features.
Its for my daughter.
This would be for our whole family.
Will be for the family!
it is for our family
I will be for our grandkids.
I would really love to have this to check my two little boys temps when they are feeling under the weather. It’s comforting to know that it gives you advice on what to do in case you are feeling a bit overwhelmed.
It would be for my 6, 4 and 11 month old! The kinsa would have been perfect when they all had the flu the last 2 weeks. I dreaded everytime I had to take their temperatures! The kinsa looks so easy to use, and keeping track with different profiles would be really handy.
I would use it for my grand kids.
I would use a Kinsa Smart Thermometer for our family.
Our whole family would use this!
The thermometer would be for me and my husband.
I would love to have the Kinsa Smart Thermometer for my own household. This would be invaluable when dealing with all the viruses that seem to creep up in our house of 5.
The monitor is for my grandson
This would be for my grandson.
This would be used on my son.
It would be for my niece.
The monitor would be for my granddaughter
I would really love to try this thermometor! What a great way to keep track of every family member! I sooooooo need this!
Oh this would be for our family! Ours has been really reading numbers all over the place…would be wonderful to have one that you can depend on!
I would use this with my 4 year old and 7 month old.
The thermometer is for me for my children.
It would be for my kids!
I would give to my sister in law who has a little one
This would be for my sister for her new little one.
This would be for my family
Thanks for the chance
This monitor is for my daughter .
It would be for my granddaughter.
Definitely for my daughter.
The monitor is for m y 3 children.
I would use it when the grand child come over
It would be for my son.
This would be for my children.
this monitor will be for our daughter.
oddly enough it is for me. i get fevers a lot and need to monitor them.
This thermometer would be for my nephew.
This would be for my cousin.
I would want this for my grandson
This would be for my 1 year old twin nephews.
This would be for my son and daughter.
This would be for my family!