My 4 year old has been drinking a lot of water and his mouth smells like acid like a battery acid what could this be?

[alpop]

The past two days I've really noticed how much water (with a tiny bit dilution juice) he is drinking. He's asking me a lot for more. He will down it then ask for another one

His mouth smells like an acidic smell like battery acid. I have no better way of explaining it. It's smelt like that since yesterday. His older sisters have noticed it too and said he smells weird

He's well otherwise. He was running a lot today and has been at his nursery.

He's maybe eating slightly more. But he's completely well other wise

Diabetes runs in my family. My brother is type 1 and was really unwell at 5 years old. My mum didn't notice anything until he was passing out then admitted to hospital.

Does anyone have any ideas??

Definitely get him tested if diabetes is in your family

CANCEL THE CHEQUE, OP!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Hey, I've seen that the tests have come back okay - I don't know if it helps but just to share that when my kids were young, that 'acetone' smelling breath was always an indicator (for them) that they were going down with something, usually a virus of some sort and usually with a temperature. It was one of those handy first indicators that meant grumpy was ill rather than the million other reasons they could be grumpy. We don't have an history of diabetes though, so it was never something that would have struck me to worry about. It was just 'one of those kid things'

Hope they're better soon x

Just in case, @alpop - diluting juice is squash, isn't it? You're not giving him some experimental new flavour, by any chance??

Interesting about your DC, @MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic. Haven't heard of normal childhood illnesses causing the acetone smell - though I did look after one little boy who gave off a 'medical' smell when he was coming down with something, which I suppose is like the smell of alcohol. Kids are weird!

Yeah. Bye.

Get him tested as soon as you can. My granddaughter was randomly getting a test for something else and my daughter got a call to bring her to the ER as her sugarswere so high. She was drinking a lot of water. It's been 2 years and she's adapted well and teaching me a lot about healthy eating!

Another thought as well as diabetes
had he got anything stuck up his nose?
that can create a rotten smell as well

When I was diagnosed with Type 1, my finger prick bloods were normal at my appointment but had been over 30 mmol a few days before...

What was really telling was the amount of ketones in my urine.

Sadly it could be the first signs of Type 1 as the pancreas doesn't die off completely at first and you can still produce insulin intermittently to begin with.

If they've done blood tests then it should come back with a better picture. Keep an eye on his weight, thirst and fatigue for now.

It could also be an oral yeast infection (which is also a very early symptom of T1 but kids get them without T1 too).

There is no need to "spend all day" trawling through Mumsnet.

All you need to do is click on See all on the bottom right of the OP's initial post and her updates will display.

THIS ^

And* *you can click on any of OP's posts to click on 'see all'.

What did they say it might be?

Possibly diabetes but that’s a long way down the line. UTI or just nothing. Just ask for an appointment tomorrow and try not to worry too much xx

Get him tested. The acidic smell and drinking lots could be type 1 diabetes.

Blood sugars can often appear normal at the beginning of T1 diabetes as the pancreas keeps working erratically (honeymoon phase). My ds was going into ketoacidosis when he was diagnosed at age 3. A child I know was turned away from the GP several times and mum told to 'stop fussing' as bg showed ok. In the end she was diagnosed at a&e & admitted.
You can buy urine ketone testing strips at the pharmacy if the GP won't test. But I would go to a&e.
Hopefully it's not T1 & just a urine infection but ketoacidosis is very dangerous (the blood turns acidic) so it's essential to have it tested. Unfortunately many GPs don't understand T1 as they mainly deal with T2 which is a completely different condition. Undiagnosed T1 is dangerously fast in children.

Can we ban people who don’t bloody RTFT or at least OP’s posts? It’s infuriating. They really think that in over 24hrs from when OP first posted that no one would’ve mentioned diabetes or going to the GP until they rock up with their remarkable insight 😆

Tell me about it, 10 pages in and still getting ‘please do get an appt OP’ ‘get him tested for diabetes’. Do people really not even know about the ‘see all’ option for OP posts?!

I haven't heard about a battery acid smell connected to diabetes, I think I have heard it is a pear drops smell, but rather than asking on hear I think if you are concerned about your child's health it would be best to ask for an appointment with your GP, or practice nurse tell them your concerns and ask to have your child's blood sugar checked?

I was diagnosed T1 at , but remembered a block of time about 8 years earlier going through a phase of being thirsty and going to the toilet every 10 mins. The symptoms must have stopped until the reappeared at 21.

i also experienced an episode of hypoglycaemic. 6 months before diagnosis. It was a really bad sore throat that took me to doctors in the end, where thirst, fatigue, etc pointed to T1.

Could he have a dental problem?

You do realise this is not a medical expert site? Get him seen by a professional NOW and stop messing about writing online posts 🤷‍♀️

You do realise the Op took her child too the GP two days ago?
If you can't be arsed reading the thread at least read the Op,s up dates .

She has .

Op I've read your updates but not all replies.

Glad he's had a full check over.

But did they check up his nose? Kids have a horrid habit of sticking things up there which can't often be seen but my god - the smell!

Check there is nothing stuck up his nose, if not maybe coming from his stomach does he have digestive problems?