Strong body odour at 8 and smaller than peers, normal?

[OneLuckyUmberScroller]

My son has extremely bad body odour. Is this normal at 8? It happened pretty much overnight. He just had a strong odour and it was the classic sweat smell. He showers about 3 times a week but I have had to get him a roll on deodorant to stop the odour and up his showers to daily.

Also he is so small. Google said it could be puberty but surely not yet. He has just turned 8, he has always been small but i went to a school assembly the other day and he is a great deal smaller than his classmates.

He is 117cm and 21 kg. He was 7ib 2 when born at 39 weeks for info. I am 5ft 5 and his dad is 5ft 9.

We have 5 children he is number 4. He is my best eater will eat pretty much anything. Will often come back for seconds.

Also no other signs of puberty are present.

My older children never had these issues hence the worry but am I being stupid?

No it’s not normal for a young child to smell very badly. Something is going on clearly.

GP

For a start… a shower every day. Obviously

Pituitary gland needs checking here, get him a doctors appointment they’ll do blood tests no doubt

No an 8 year old should not have strong body odour, he definitely needs to see the GP.

He needs to be showering every day and using deodorant.

Plus clean clothes daily

This. At 8 both my kids were showering every morning. See the GP about your concerns. Also how tall are the parents?

This. Also if he is showing differences in growth to your other children, that needs to be seen by gp sooner rather than later too.

See the gp re body odour but the height and weight is in line with what my dc were.

What’s his diet like?
This happened to my son, his diet was red meat heavy and the doctor said it could be that so we cut back and it settled.

Sweet smell isn’t BO? I’d be getting him seen asap. My DS BO (he is 12) smells of onions
Does his breath smell of pear drops/acetone? Diabetes would be something that needs ruling out

See the GP. My boy is just 13 and has hit puberty, and what you are describing seems quite likely for puberty, but I wouldn't expect the change to be so sudden, more like gradually becoming sweatier and smellier over a few months! Also he's very young. Again some children do start puberty young so that doesn't mean it must be something bad, but again it's worth checking out, especially with the two unusal things together.

This sounds worth a GP checkup to put all the elements together. Discuss with your son that the doctor checkup would involve examining him all over including his penis and testicles (as testicle enlargement is the first change for boys if entering true puberty).

That does seem small, my son is five and 119cm, worth checking with the gp if their could be hormone issues affecting his growth

I think this is 2 separate issues. It’s quite normal to begin needing to wear deodorant at 8. But you need to see a medical professional if you think he’s unusually small for his age.

My daughter suddenly stank at 8. It happened overnight. I don’t think it is out of the ordinary. She was also very slightly built and quite small for her her age.

BO at 8 is adrenarche not full puberty but with the growth concerns, I would see a doctor. Beware that even paediatricians dismiss mild growth issues though. But they would be able to rule out anything else which might be causing premature adrenarche.

Definitely need to see GP.