Can you “smell” when your kids are ill?

[Countingdays]

Sometime ago, a friend of mine said ‘I recognise when my children are sick, because their smell changes’ - I remember thinking how odd at the time, but I’ve been smelling it since! Guess I never paid any attention to it before.

I can only describe it as a mixture of bad breath with mucus, but it’s very distinctive. Just yesterday, I smelt it on my daughter before any actual visible symptoms and lo and behold she woke up with a fever this morning!

has anyone ever noticed this?

Yes and not just my kids but other adults too. I remember going to bed one night thinking my husband smelt ill but he felt totally fine… about six hours later he had D&V

Yes, a sweet 'poorly' smell everytime !
My DC's can smell it on each other when they have a flu or similar

yep always!! My husband thinks I’m part witch😂

I do not have this ability but you’ve reminded me of the story of the nurse Joy Milne. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/23/820274501/her-incredible-sense-of-smell-is-helping-scientists-find-new-ways-to-diagnose-di

No, I never knew this was even a thing. My kids are literally never ill though.

I never get stuff like this though, for example all that 'there's different cries depending on what a baby wants' thing, to me it all just sounds exactly the same.

I have a terrible sense of smell, yet I can smell when the DC and when DH are ill. It’s a slightly metallic, stuffy sort of smell.

Yep. A bit like rank oranges.

Yes, like a dry, bad breath smell usually along with a croaky voice and red cheeks.

I feel sorry for your eldest that
you’re more ‘bonded’ with their sibling

Not children, but I can smell when DH is developing a migraine, so I can give an early warning for medication.

Definitely (although told some friends with children and they thought it was funny!), is a weird mixture of a breath smell and a general smell off them

GroovyChick87

Yes, like a dry, bad breath smell usually along with a croaky voice and red cheeks.

Forgot this- my 12 yos cheeks turn nearly purple , apparently in some people it’s the sign of a viral infection ( doctor was quite excited telling us this😅)

Ah that’s really interesting. Both my DC have been formula fed though and I can still smell them both. Less so the eldest one now but he rarely gets sick nowadays

Fascinating some can smell it on their partners too! I don’t, but maybe it’s because his ‘man flu’ is BS half the time 🤣🤣

This is so interesting! I'm not aware of any smell, myself, but I always see it in their eyes (glassy or tired) before anyone else sees it. Next time, I'll check if I sense the smell too!

I can certainly smell it on our two boys even now and they are 23 and 18 and they normally smell good.

Interestingly, I could smell me last year, my OH couldn’t. I kept saying to my OH I’ve got a bad infection as I can smell it, was in a lot of pain and felt like death.

Turned out I had sepsis as I had a gangrenous perforated bowel. Nothing serious that 4 hours of emergency surgery didn’t sort out. Moral of this story is, if you have a nasty hernia, don’t ignore it.

I can't at all. But my husband can smell if DS is about to come down with something, sometimes 2-3 days in advance of any symptoms developing.

Yes. I could. I’m using past tense because they are teenagers and I don’t get the same ill smell when they are ill now. That would make sense from an evolutionary perspective.

Not a smell, but by the temp of their hands that they’re able to come down with something. DP can’t tell, though.

What a dick comment.
If you read properly, you’ll see that I said I wondered whether my bond was deeper, not that it actually was. You are a twat.

They smell like ear wax

Yes with my youngest DD but not my eldest which is a bit odd really.

Allergy parent here, I can smell poorly and I can also smell different types of sick/poo - allergy poo/sick smells v different to poorly sick/poo

Yes DS1 used to get frequent bouts of tonsillitis, I could always smell it before the symptoms appeared.

Our youngest used to get it regularly, until they were taken out. Could definitely smell it when he was ill with it. His other sign was his shining heavy looking eyes.