To tell me best friend her DD smells?

[Prettyinbeige]

My friend has a DD (6) who is in the same class as my nephew who is also 6.

Today my sister came over for the day with DN, when chatting I asked him about my friends DD if they are still in the same class, if they play together etc etc. He started telling me that she had been crying on the last day of term, when I asked him why he said that some of the children in his class are mean to her and call her names to say that she smells. I said "that's not very nice is it?" And he said "no, I'm not being horrible Auntie but she does smell like cheese" (slightly strange but he is 6!)

Anyway I said no more about it. But now it is playing on my mind weather to say something to my friend. On one hand I would want to know if my DC was being picked on and also if there was some sort of problem I wasn't aware of. On the other hand she may be well aware of a problem that she is trying to keep private and I could cause a whole load of embarrassment to her and her DD.
Also this could just be a small incident hugely over exaggerated by a 6 year old!

What would you do?

Why not ask her how her DD is getting on at school, then mention your nephew has seen her crying?

I'd keep quiet, wait til you are with your friend and her daughter and see or rather sniff for yourself to see if you can recognise what it is.

Then think very long and hard about whether to say anything by mentioning the smell directly, you could lose a friend.

If you feel you must say something, you could say your DN said in passing that he'd seen the other kids being mean to her and making her cry but you don't know any details. That gives your friend the opportunity to ask her DD about it and discover the other kids are saying she smells.

Cross post, sorry.

I've obviously been to their house a lot and spent a lot of time with the mum so I know there is no problem with bad hygiene at home, but I don't see enough of her DD to know if what DN is saying is true.
My main worry is that she will A) think I have noticed and am being nosey or B) think that DN is one of the people being nasty to her if I mention it came from him.

But I would also be very upset if my DC was getting picked on and my friend knew about it and said nothing.

Honestly, if it was me, I'd want to know. Just tell me straight out, but I'm a bit thick skinned so not a problem. Suppose it depends on how well you know your friend and how you think she'll take it.

Alternatively if you can't say to her, how about asking school to have a word?

Either way I'd want to know.