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?

Wow that is quite a story! Glad you’re okay!!

Okay what’s even more remarkable about this is that everyone says they smell like different things… to me it’s just an off smell, it’s pretty gross (but I actually love it like a weirdo), but some posters are reporting biscuits, markers… that’s fascinating!

Yep.

Yes definitely I could , also my child when small always wanted to kiss me on my mouth before she was ill , we where cheek kisses normally , it became a a pattern only did that before illness

Haha! That’s the plot to the next thriller about spreading diseases! 😂

Yes, I can smell when my little fostered one is poorly and I could also smell it on my birth children. The smell depends on the child though.

Yes, especially when they were very small

Smells like raw chicken

I had a massive aversion to raw chicken in my pregnancies so I’m glad my kids don’t smell like it 😂

I can't say I ever have but my 14yo says she can.

I can with ds (11) but not smells with dd (21) but her voice sounds 'off', her eyes go weird and she goes a funny colour. Also can smell DH about to be ill, and I get a weird taste in my mouth. Its odd.

Yes! Totally. There is an article in the Guardian today saying loved ones are better at recognising series illness than hospital monitoring in some cases.

Yes, always.

Yes

Very much so. I can also smell when I’m about to come on my period.

Yes, there's a particular smell that ds has when he's ill. There's a change in his breath when he's got a cold but a more general smell from his forehead when he's sick. It's weird because it's unpleasant but I also kind of like it.

Yes. I have a crap sense of smell but can smell impending illness on DH and youngest DC.
Its a metallic, slightly sweet mucousy smell; it smells like that taste you get in the back of your throat when you have a cold!

I've always been able to smell this, my OH jokes that I'll just randomly say "DS smells like an infection make sure we have calpol in" 😅 I'm always right! I can smell it on others too, especially family members, and especially especially my younger siblings. Even as adults now, I know when they're poorly x

Yes it’s like gone off milk. Only ever smelt it on my kids. Great way to know of they are trying it on!

Yes this is the best description of what I can smell!

Eggy breath and being evil.

Yes. And a cold (sinus smell) is totally different to a vomiting bug smell. I can usually smell it the day before they get ill.

Yes! My sisters and I can all smell when our kids are getting ill. Didn’t realise how common it was. Amazing.

Having done so since birth, I still sniff Dbro to check his health. He grumbles. He is 54.

DM has Parkinson’s and we couldn’t smell it, which is really odd cos we can all always tell who’s weedy in our gene pool. She whizzed me to A&E after tea once, where they immediately removed my appendix - she said I smelt weird in the car and just detoured to casualty.

Yes especially when they were smaller! I could walk into their room in the night and smell they had a fever!

I’m wondering what else people can smell? I can smell when my kids are nervous, like before an exam or a big event. Their farts take on a VERY distinctive aroma. I think it’s the same specific smell of all people feeling nervous as I’ve smelled it in green rooms at events or backstage too. It’s not just fart smell, it’s a particular brand of fart. What other emotions/tells can people smell?!