Kids Body Odour - really upset Mum

[janmark]

I am really upset to think that teachers and mums don't understand. Kids do have odour at quite an early age. Please tell me why oh why we give them our antiperspirants to use. Since this happend to my daughter I began to research and found all the terrible things like aluminium in antipersirants which we give to our kids storing up all kinds of problems. I posted about some deodorants I found which deal with the problem and do not put all the nasty things on their skin. Please everyone look at what you are doing and find deodorants especially for kids which do not have aluminium, parabens etc. Go to Boots they are now on the market. Please keep our kids skins safe.

What DawnDonna and FlissPaps said. There is no good evidence linking breast cancer / other diseases with parabens and aluminium. Aluminium is one of the most common elements in the universe!

The paraben-free thing is pure marketing drivel by over-priced organic 'natural' beauty brands. Parabens are preservatives and prevent bacteria growing in products - they are a good thing.

My 11 year old has been a bit whiffy for a couple of years, despite daily showers and clean clothes

I bought her one of those crystal deodorant stick things and it's been fab

Tondelayo, no evidence (yet) doesn't necessarily mean there is no link. Why take any risk if you don't have to? Pitrok etc work really well, and as for over-priced, they cost about a fiver and last for years.

icing tell me more about your potion? I'm badly allergic to most deodorants...

Wilson, here is the product that led me to make my own:

Salt of the Earth

It works exceptionally well. The potassium alum (salt) acts as an astringent and antiseptic. It's available on ebay to buy for well under £10 (depends how much you want).

I saved the empty bottles from the ones I bought, but you can just go into boots to buy a spray bottle and it'll do the same job. You fill it with room temperature water from the tap, add the salt until it's reached saturation point, and spray.

You can also buy a solid form of this salt, which you just smooth down and use as a roll-on on damp skin. Simple!

Cheers

shouldn't this be in Children's Health?

Puberty comes in two stages: the first is when the adrenal glands kick in and children get hairier and develop body odour. The second stage is when their gonads start to produce sex hormones and they go on to have periods, wet dreams etc.

The adrenarche can happen from birth, so potentially babies can have bo.
Mostly children from about 5 have adrenarche.
This does not mean they will have their menarche earlier, or have their testicles drop etc earlier.
The two are not linked, but usually the adrenals kick in about three years before the gonads start to produce any hormones.

Using a deodorant that actually works is VERY important for children, if they are stinky. It's very bad for their self esteem to be known as the smelly one. If the adrenals have started to kick in, then just washing and wearing clean clothes won't cut it- they will be smelly. You don't want to get into a situation where they aren't doing sports cos they have self consciousness about how they smell.

Alum is the salt in pit rock and can be bought in chemists and made into a solution - this works well for sweaty feet also.

But why not use a nice smelling deodorant, for mild smells, or anti perspiration if sweating is noticeable.

We use dr organcis from holland and Barrett, also toms of Maine, also welda, but I use Sure and Vaseline as I sweat more than my kids.

We all smell lovely!

The voice of reason Venus

"I remember those awful yellow hard patches on my school shirts from using normal anti-perspirant2

Modern anti-perspirants don't seem to do that.

Parabens are not usually found in antiperspirants or deodorants anyway, brands that say "no Parabens" are just saying that for marketing purposes.

And to all you people using Alum products (like pitrock etc)- what do you actually think Alum is? The clue is in the name..... It's an aluminium salt just a less effective sort than what you find in most antiperspirants. So hence it's a bit rubbish at stopping sweat but will give you some BO protection.

www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo

I don't think salt and water with a bit of aluminium is going to work

I work in a school and I'm sorry, kids can smell at a young age. If you are worried about aluminium in anti perspirants then try all the other products that have been mentions by op's such as bionsen etc.

Hi New to mumsnet. I came across young children's body odour problem topic here. I suggest Bicarbonate of Soda. I have been using this since ... teenage years, I am now nearly 50 and still using this. I even use this do dab on my foot after shower. You will find that even though some deodorant products that has no alumminum has a long list of other chemicals as well.
Find an empty loose powder container with holes and pour your bi-soda.

Squeaky that is not always true.
My boy is 8 years old, very very tall, thin as a rake and fit as a fiddle. Does a lot of running and exercise and activity generally, and he often smells of BO!
He bathes every day and unless he puts on deodarant, he comes home fro school, sometimes really ponging of BO.

I've asked the Dr an he said, it's perfectly normally, although not very common for a child to start producing smelly sweat at this age and that in fairness to him and his peers, he should regularly be wearing deodarant.

young children do not need deodorant pubecent kids are different and do pong a bit how young are you talking about because if a child washes they dont smell of B O

Yes, and if an adult washes, they don't smell of BO either. But it doesn't stop them starting to smell during the day, if they don't have any kind of deodarant on.

just waiting for someone to say 'I don't like all the chemicals in antiperspirants'....

we are all made of chemicals.

I struggle to find an effective antiperspirant for myself. DS1 uses supermarkets own men's ranges quite OK. I've tried things like Mitchum but they are only partially effective. I must sweat a lot!

I havnt used an anti persirant for years. When I stopped using it, I reeked for a week or two, and then my body adjusted, and I really don't smell now. (I have checked with honest friends).
In summer, I occasionally use a deoderant, never anti perspirant though, as it clogs everything up, and I think there is something in it that makes your body need it, and actually smell worse. Especially the 24 hour ones.
I wouldn't use an antiperspirant for a child for that reason-it exacerbates the problem.
Clean bod, clean clothes, maybe use of a baby wipe to wipe fresh sweat from underarms to stop it going stale and smelling, thats all you need.

I was shocked when my DS aged 7 started smelling of BO, I didn't expect it, specially as he's not the sporty type. Then when my DD started smelling a little aged only 5YO I was even more shocked. I have noticed that switching from standard milk to organic milk makes a massive difference. DS still needs deodorant but not DD. I guess it's the hormones in milk, right?

Should you have the misfortune to enter a classroom of 13/14 y/o at the end of the day, you may well be excused for demanding to know who brought the dead animal into the room (and you may well be excused for thinking that someone may have stuffed it up their arse and farted)

But enter a class of 11/12 y/o and all you need to do is move the air a bit and make sure you keep to a corner of the room furthest away from boys who have been playing in footie in the break time.

Hmm! Smells like pre-teen stinkers

After that age, cry havoc and let lose the tubes of Lynx.

My teenage boy would have nothing to do with hippy style rocks. He wanted Lynx (I need a deodorant for MEN, Mum!) by the bucket load. I am not sure whether the smell of Lynx is better or worse than the smell of good honest sweat. The jury's out.

My 9 year old son gets sweaty smelling underarms towards the end of the day despite daily showering and clean clothes, so I bought him bionsen deodorant from boots, so some kids do need deodorant .