6yo suddenly smelling strongly of fish/ammonia

[ScrambledSmegs]

Today my 6yo DD was a little more emotional than usual but nothing to worry about. We were out till late afternoon. When back in the house we noticed she seemed to have very strong body odour - an all-over fishy smell. It was so bad that until we traced the source back to her, I thought an animal had got into our house and pissed in a corner of the living room.

What on earth can be causing this? I don't think it's bacterial vaginosis, because the smell is coming from all of her, her skin reeks of it, and her breath smells of it too. She's drunk a good amount of water today, although she normally drinks an awful lot for her age so maybe has had less than normal. She had cod for lunch but surely it wouldn't cause her to smell SO bad several hours later? I've just been in her bedroom and it's so strong I was shocked.

She's never had it before. I'm mystified, and hope it goes quickly because I really don't want the other kids in her class to notice Can anyone help please? I don't know if it warrants a trip to the GP or if I'm just overreacting.

Maybe it was the cod for lunch? It's certainly a possibility for the smell of cod.
Don't give her any fish for a few days and see if she still smells.
Not sure about the body odour. If my DD has been very very active and sweaty she can smell of BO a bit. If you're really worried see a GP.

I don't know if this is something that just comes on suddenly www.nhs.uk/conditions/trimethylaminuria/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Last time someone asked about this her son had something lodged up his nose. Could this be a possibility? It might be really far up there!

Nanny yup that was mine! I always click on these threads now! It was a sticker, and he narrowly avoided surgery to get it out. The smell was utterly inhuman, it took us days to work out what it was. It was a thread on here that suggested it!

I have never heard of that but I will always remember that now!!

Could be Fish Odour Syndrome??

Could she just be a bit poorly? My DD gets a horrible sickly sweet (almost rotting leaves) smell to her when she's coming down with a cold. It clears up when the cold manifests.

Hi Calamity(waves). How's he doing now? I shall remember your thread forever. I always tell my friends with kids about it in case of an odd smell situation.

I came to say something stuck up nose.

My auntie is a GP and tells a story about young child brought in to see her due to 'funny smell'. She had a look and managed to extract something from his nose. Both she and the child's mother vomited due to the horrific stench unleashed! I think he felt better afterwards though...

OP, I don't want to worry you but a strong smell of ammonia and a very thirsty child could mean Diabetes. Please get an emergency appt with your GP tomorrow, just in case.

She's drunk a good amount of water today, although she normally drinks an awful lot for her age so maybe has had less than normal.

Could the smell be likened to pear drops at all?

I'd say gp, I'd be concerned about diabetes

I smell of fish after eating, well, fish. It is noticeable to others so I have cut out most fish from my diet. Cod is a prime offender. Funnily enough salmon and prawns don't affect me in the same way.

He's fine! He's not put anything up there since which is a BIG relief, the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare really! He doesn't remember it, until we remind him and it all comes rushing back : "and then daddy had to blow in my nose in the hospital and then I went home and then we were in the car for AGES (ENT department at another hospital) and I had hot chocolate and the doctor made me cry (he didn't like the long tweezers they had to use) and then daddy had to go to work and he was NOT HAPPY" that's a pretty accurate recollection of events as they were! The doctor handed me the sticker, which was...nice of him!

I'd say GP, OP. That's where we went in the first instance, they then referred us to a&e, who then referred us in turn to the ENT dept.

Any update op?

Sorry, I didn't think I'd got any responses and I completely forgot to come back and update.

She's fine . The smell had completely vanished by the morning, so I can only assume that it was a weird combination of being under the weather and eating cod. Although it might well have been a bit of fish stuck up her nose because she's been sniffing loads recently (colds). Either way, my child no longer stinks. Hurrah!

In answer to a couple of questions - no, there's no smell of pear drops, or otherwise odd sweet odours. I have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell, I've
had a good sniff and weirded the poor child out no end . She just smells nice.

She does drink a lot of water at school, but less at weekends. I think at school it's because she enjoys the novelty of having a water bottle at all times, and she likes having to go to the toilet because she likes to talk to herself there! It gives her a bit of headspace from the general hubbub (paraphrasing).

Last thing - because I wasn't sure if it was a sensitivity to cod specifically, as per GretchenWieners, I gave her cod fish fingers for tea yesterday. No smell. DD2 and I both checked :)

Thank you all, for your help and advice