Unpleasant bo in 5 yr old

[smartie]

My dd, 5, has suffered with body odours that would have been more fairly placed on a teenager since she was 2.

Nobody seems to have come accross this before. She can't be the first! Will she grow out of it before growing into it?

Has anyone heard of this smelly problem?

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Poor dd and you. Agree with sb34- would a visit to the GP be in order here? Pretty soon other kids may start making an issue of this, if they haven't already, so I would definitely get things checked out. Good luck.

Sorry to be a bit blunt but what sort of body odour are we talking about - do you mean a sweaty armpit smell or a more general odour? My children sweat quite a lot in bed and have a smell about them but I can't say that they ever smell of classic BO (in the armpit sense) during the day.

Constipation can often be a cause of smelly children and infections often cause bad breath. Similarly objects hidden in various orifices can cause bad smells after a period of time.

Sadly it's the smelly armpit (and bottom) variety, she's very aware and sniffs herself or comes to me to check her before going out.

Having just started school the problem seems more apparent, spending all day sitting in an overheated classroom with loads of layers in preparation for the freezing playground. I find myself rushing her home for a quick bath dunk before beginning our evening.

I did mention this to our HV, she simply said she had never come accross the issue, how can I waste the GPs time with such a trivial matter?

Does she wear man made or natural fibers? Try sticking to natural fibers only and see if that helps.

I've always been under the impression that "BO" happens when we develop larger sweat glands in puberty. I would go to your GP Smartie as I think this is worth checking out.

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Smartie, I am sure your GP would not trivialise your concern. It is very unusual in a child to have body odour and it can be indicitive of a medical disorder.

Thanks to you all, I am listening... you all suggest medical advice so I will get onto it right away and give you an update as soon as we've seen the GP... probably in a couple of weeks!

Just an update.
Gp appeared bemused if not a little horrified by dd's smell, I had deliberately ommitted the deodrant she normally uses. She checked dd for rashes, breast budding, pubic hair etc. But said she had never come accross the problem before so made enquiries with her hospital based colleagues who, it transpires, were also no clearer!

The best bit is that they don't think this is anything sinister and believe she will grow out of it!

I would still be interested to hear from anyone who has come accross this or something similar...

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smartie, I haven't heard of being super smelly at your dd's age specifically but some people are definitely smellier than others. My whole family stinks. I can shower in the morning, put on deodorant, sit around doing nothing energetic and stink by noon. My dh on the other hand never ever wears deodorant and has a physically active job and never smells. Maybe your dd just has some smelly genes?? By the way, have you had her tested for diabetes?

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Does your daughter smell fishy? There is a condition called fish odour syndrome, don't know if that is relevent, but if you do a google search about it, something may come up.

sb34- yuo were probably helping at the party my dd was at!! (How do you do those smiley faces?)

robinw i will look at this website, thanks.

Diabetes has not been checked, according to gp not neccessary, I will do a urine dipstick check myself, just to rule it out. No the smell isn't fishy, thank god, it's definately a teenage/adult BO smell, which she surely shouldn't have at her age!

Thanks for your responses, any other relevant info will be greatly recieved.

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sb34, no we're not any where near Surrey!

Thanks for the lesson, here goes my first attempt...

wow!

My dd is nearly 7 and has recently begun to suffer with a distinct smeel under the arms. She has a bath every night but when she gets home from school I can smell a definite underarm BO smell. I too have been wondering what the cause is, but haven't seeked professional help. Will ask around and let you know if I come up with anything smartie!

indymum

my son suffered from a similar problem, too early to be the onset of puberty. Took him to the GP who diagnosed a fungal infection. Fungal similar to the athletes foot variety. Cream sorted it out.

Hope this helps