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Original poster

Body odour in 6 year old boy

11 replies

Partridge · 05/03/2013 11:22

Last night when getting ds1 ready for bed I got a whiff of pungent bo from one armpit. He obviously knew he was smelly because he laughed saying "smell my armpit!"

A friend with a son in the same class as ds1 said that the teacher had recently mentioned that the smell in the classroom was not her but one of the kids, and that she had flagged possible early puberty with the head teacher. Now I am worried that this is ds1 - but there are lots of much more mature girls than him in the class.

Nobody who is close to him has smelt this before and he has no other signs of puberty - although he is quite moody (I don't think this is new!)

I called the gp this morning who called back saying the paediatric endocrinologist wants to see him within a month. Obviously I have now googled and am neurotic that he has a brain tumour Hmm.

I do have health anxiety but I also know that precocious puberty in boys as opposed to girls is a cause for concern. Confused

I think precocious puberty is a bit of a leap - his penis and testicles are normal, no pubic or facial hair and no acne. Does anyone else please have any comforting stories of ds with similar? Thank you.

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ElliesWellies · 05/03/2013 11:33

Not a DS, but my mum bought me one of those natural deodorants (from a health food shop... do they still call them that?!) when I was about 7 or 8, because she had similar concerns. I didn't hit puberty particularly early... was about 11, and seemed at similar stage to other girls.

I'm sorry, I don't know how different boys and girls are in this respect, but you know googling always terrifies people, don't do it! I expect nothing will come of it, and you'll just end up buying him a natural deodorant too. You've done the best thing though - get him checked out just to be sure.

twilight81 · 05/03/2013 12:41

My daughter started with this at about age 6, maybe earlier... I did wonder at time but came across quite a bit of info that said it was relatively normal so didnt follow up with the GP, wondering if I should have now. She is now almost 10 and has started to get some hair down below, no other signs yet. She is very petite compared to her friends so it suprizes me. I was at least 13 before anything like this happened.

Lonecatwithkitten · 05/03/2013 13:54

DD started to need deodorant at about 7. Nine now still no sign of anything else.

Original poster
Partridge · 05/03/2013 14:36

Thank you. Reassuring. I have been through the laundry basket and not a whiff on any of his dirty clothes. Off to school to get him and will speak to his teacher. I am mostly alarmed that they have referred him to the hospital - I thought they would just fob me off and say it was one of those things.

I have another appointment with the gp tomorrow and am hoping they will see that he really does look like a 6 1/2 year old in every way. Just the smell is different. Hmm

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lucymelz · 04/09/2013 10:33

Hello, I've just come across your post after having the same thing happen to my DS. He is 6 and a half and I noticed it quite badly over the hot summer. I have made a doctor's appointment so will keep you posted. How have things panned out with your DS though?

Original poster
Partridge · 05/09/2013 12:19

Hi Lucy - just stumbled upon this coincidentally. Well... He still smells quite often. But I took him to the gp and she examined him naked and said no way did he have precocious puberty. She said it is abundantly obvious and in every way he is a pre-pubescent 7 year old boy.

That was a few months ago and whilst he can have a strong bo smell he has not developed at all. I googled images of boys with pp and their genetalia in particular is like that of men. So it suddenly seemed obvious to me too. Perhaps do this if you are worried. I am actually pretty annoyed that the first doctor (who hadn't even examined him) was so alarmist.

Good luck and let me know how you get on. I use pitrok on him and it seems to work well, when I remember. Blush

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Original poster
Partridge · 05/09/2013 12:22

Ps the gp was so confident that she told me to cancel the endo appointment.

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lucymelz · 05/09/2013 16:17

Hi and thanks for that. OK I feel a bit better. I will still take him to the doctor though - just to get him checked over and make sure I'm not missing something. But I'm almost positive it's not PP - he's naked an awful lot (don't kids love that!) and so I know his body quite well and it looks very normal to me. I will also buy some Junior Varsity Naturals (found while googling on the subject) to keep the pongs at bay! Bye for now. Lucy

Original poster
Partridge · 05/09/2013 18:09

Glad you feel better. Sorry my grammar was awful. I meant that she said pp in boys is very obvious. So if he doesn't have fully developed testicles, pubic hair and a man like penis then he is probably fine. Good luck.

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doraemon07 · 22/10/2018 23:08

Hello, just wonderimg your boys must be above 10 now. Are they doing fine and hope you've not had any issues since they were 6?

mumsanywhere · 12/01/2020 17:45

Hey everyone. I am having the same issue with my little boy who is 6. What happened with everyone? Thanks

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