HELP! Really worried about my son!

[beckyH07]

Hello lovely parents

I'm looking for some advice and reassurance. Today, whilst playing in our local park, my 5yr old son ran ahead just a few feet and started to climb a tree. He later told me that there was white, smelly sticky stuff on there and he'd put his hand in it. He said it was really smelly so I wiped his hands with wet wipes and had a sniff myself. It was a really grim smell, it had the inimitable smell of semen about it. So now, I'm totally freaking out that my son has put his hand in some weirdo's semen and I just don't know what to do, other than scrubbing him. Help please!

Wouldn't it be sap? How good would someone's aim have to be to fire it all the way up there?

More likely bird poo. Semen would have dried surely?? and gone all crusty . Unless someone had just done it a few minutes before which is highly unlikely

Lol! It was at the bottom of the tree... Could be sap, let's hope it was... Didn't smell like it though sob x

Sounds like slime flux to me. Smelly white ooze. Google "slime flux tree", it's a safe search I promise!

Here's a wiki link

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_flux

It's not likely to be semen, but even if it was your son won't catch anything off it. you don't need to "do" anything other than chill out.

Doesn't spunk go clear and runny after a while? I don't think it would be white and sticky after a while.

Chestnut trees smell really spunky at certain times of the year. Maybe their sap does too - if it was a chestnut tree.

Go and check yourself tomorrow if you can, if it's still there then it's definitely the tree stuff

Thank you lovely mumsnetters! Stopped panicking now. Boys eh?!