Toddler girl smelly below

[Lighthouser]

Hello

My poor wee girl (2.5) is prone to being bit smelly down below.

She's out of nappies now for 12 months, wears cotton undies / pjs, occasionally runs around naked give half the chance.

She can and does wipe herself, though always calls for help with a poo (usually because she wants to sit and have a chat, and then I'm there anyway so I wipe). She uses normal loo roll, sometimes those toddler flushable toilet wipes (that aren't really flushable) or I use water wipes.

She used to be a real water baby, but recently needs really persuading to have a bath. She therefore gets one only 1-2 times a week, but I always make sure that morning and night she gets a wash with plain clean water on her face, hands then front and back below. In the bath she gets a tiny bit of bubble bath (Earth Friendly Baby organic stuff).

So I really don't think it's over cleaning, or scratching (never seen her do it), or soaps, unless it's the toddler wipes or the tiny bit of occasional bubble bath. It doesn't seem to get any better or worse after these things.

She's been checked several times for yeast or urine infections, always clean. No discharge mostly, occasionally a small dry whitish mark in her pants, nothing foul looking. She looks ever so slightly red where the labia touch, but not really sore looking, and she doesn't say she's sore.

What the hell can I do? I don't want her to be poorly, or smell.

Thanks

I would bathe her more than once or twice a week and see if it solves it, some children may need washing more often than others.

What's the smell like? There's that thing that smells of fish, but can be eradicated by not eating certain foods.

I'd bath her every other day at a minimum

Mine get daily baths. The mess they get into I couldn't imagine not daily

May be a silly question but do you still dry her after a bath?

At that age I had to live dd down to dry her to get in all the creases so to speak, I noticed if she insisted on doing it herself she wouldn't dry properly and become red down below.

Also washing powider bubbles etc can cause those symptoms I had to switch to sanex only and that worked a treat.

I'd also bathe her every other night

#lie dd down

Excuse typos!

My DD used water wipes on her baby but was really surprised when she used them on her toddler as they did nothing to remove odour. I'd get some different wipes, give her a daily bath and use some gentle but effective soap (we use childs farm) directly on the area, not just in the water. She may end up with UTIs etc if she's not being properly cleansed in that area.

Well now I feel dreadful for not washing her enough

Her hands and face get filthy a million times a day, and then washed. I'm forever cutting and cleaning her nails. She doesn't mind any of that, happily splashes in the sink, washes her hands, loves washing her own face (and does a bloody good job too). Like I say, I really do make sure she's clean when dressing and undressing every day, so I didn't think daily baths were necessary. I'll try every other day, and maybe switch bubble bath.

Also yes, she's always dried all over after a bath. She doesn't mind that at all and in fact usually involves tickles and laughs (and probably relief to get out of the bath).

Actually, thinking about it I'm probably NOT drying her properly after I wash her, not in the bath!!! Lightbulb moment...

Thanks everyone.

I would definitely bath her everyday.
Kids especially after going to nursery/school pick up dirt through exploring and are constantly running around and getting a little sweaty...tbh I don't like the 'school smell' either. As a minimum, I would always shower a child's feet and bits before bed, for example if they've showered during swimming earlier that day. Hopefully, a clean or freshen up at the end of the day would help.

She was out of nappies at 18m?

That's very early, and she's still only 2.5.
Any chance she may not have full control yet and is leaking small amounts of urine? One of mine had labial adhesions so the urine would collect behind the adhesion and she'd dribble post wee, even if well wiped.

If you've had her checked that would probably rule out anything metabolic like fish odour syndrome mentioned by pp, or diabetes even.

She will definitely need assistance with wiping herself. I would also agree with others that she isn't being washed enough.

I don't think a bath every day is necessary, in fact science says otherwise.

Yes, she was out of nappies early, but she's definitely not leaking. There's absolutely no sign of it. I looked up labial adhesions on the nhs site. I had no idea they were so common, and they sound unpleasant, sorry to hear your girl had this. I do regularly take a look at her, despite not doing nappy changes, and she looks fine. Like I say, ever so slightly pinker where they touch. The more I think about it I wonder if the wet wipes and twice daily washing, even with no detergent, is what's causing it, so I will try making sure she's also patted dry like had been suggested.

I hadn't heard of fish odour syndrome either so I looked that up too, trimethylaminuria, and its definitely not that. The smell isn't fishy for starters, in fact it's not even unpleasant, it's just not fresh, and not quite right. There's also no history of that, or diabetes, no other symptoms of either, and I think they did check for diabetes once when I took her in.

She does have assistance wiping herself. I wasn't very clear there. I mean that while she can do it, and does do it, she's always checked, apart from the odd time she's come to me an announced that she's done a wee in the potty all by herself and sure enough I go and I find a potty of wee with some loo roll. This is rare, and recent. She always asks for help with a poo, and almost always with wees too.

I think I'll also all what nursery do (she's only in part time) to see if they wipe or get her to, use wet or dry etc. I know they used to do it but maybe that's changed.

Well, thanks all.

I found DD was definitely smellier than her brothers were and she still needs to go in the bath, at least every 2 days at the age of 5.
The boys could have gone 4-5 days at that age and still been fine (although DS10 is now going through smelly boy stage and needs a good wash every day.)
Vaginas are open and have secretions to keep them healthy even in small children, so they just need to wash more often.

I know this is about the other end! But my dd used to get loads of earwax, snd it really stank.

I would add some bicarbon ate of soda to her bath, a few drops of tea tree and lavander oils and maybe something simple like Dr Bronners to wash with.

Just coming back to say that she's not getting bathed any more often, still gets washed every day. The only significant change I've made is actually toning down the use of wipes etc and making sure she's patted dry afterwards. This is the key... I think the area remaining constantly slightly damp was the issue. The tiny bit of redness she had has also gone.

Phew.