(WHTM) — With so many different kinds of thermometers on the market these days, parents may be wondering which on is best to use for their kids.

Dr. Maureen Ahmann with Cleveland Clinic Children’s has some advice.

“It does partially depend on the child’s age, and it is also very important to follow the directions on the thermometer to a tee, because there were a lot of mass produced thermometers with the most recent pandemic, there’s a lot — they all have different directions,” she said.

Ahmann says with young children, parents are going to get the most accurate reading with a rectal thermometer.

However, if they’re uncomfortable using one of those, they could try a forehead scanner instead.

Another option is to place a digital thermometer under the child’s armpit.

When is comes to infants, she does not recommend using an ear thermometer because their ear canals are so small. Other problems with these include that it can be difficult to get the right angle or ear wax could throw off the reading.

“The other thing with those ear thermometers is that I have noted that ear infections, because the eardrum is inflamed, it can actually falsely make it look higher — falsely read high with those, so you do want to watch that,” Ahmann said.

Ahmann says once a child gets older and can hold a thermometer under their tongue, then it is okay to use of those.

They are generally accurate, unless the child ate something prior that could tamper with the reading, like a popsicle.

If that’s the case, parents should wait half an hour before taking their child’s temperature.