Weird smell in nursery

[Lavender14]

Hi! For a few weeks now there's been a really strange musty/off smell coming from our baby's nursery. I can smell it really strong when I open the door and then it dissipates and builds back up again. I open the window for a bit every day to air the room, his laundry basket is empty and bedding changed and we don't keep his nappies in there, they're removed immediately because our nappy bin is in the bathroom. Does anyone have any suggestions. We have a few wicker/ rattan pieces in the room and a jute rug but none of these seem to smell individually. We put in new curtains/ blinds and carpets 10 months ago and I hoover regularly. Sheets on the bed have been changed and it's not a smell I recognise. Does anyone have any idea??? It's driving me crazy!

Have you checked for damp or mould? If you have fitted furniture check behind that too

Yes this is a good shout. We moved into a house with fitted wardrobes and it took an embarrassingly long time to work out that the smell was the wall behind the wardrobe getting damp. We removed the wardrobes and switched to freestanding to help the air circulate better.

Has a bottle fallen behind the crib or anywhere else? (Of course only applies if bottle fed.)

No, I ebf but our crib isn't to the ground so I've checked under and behind it and down the back of the radiator because he's started putting things down there and all other furniture is flat to the ground or the wall. I'll check tomorrow for damp in behind the chest of drawers and the bed but they're not fitted so there's a gap behind and it doesn't smell like that. It's hard to describe but it's not like anything I've ever smelt before. The room is aired every day and it's pretty warm. We have issues with damp in other rooms but never been an issue in that one because it's the warmest room in our house. I checked both mattresses last week and they are also fine, put new in the room before baby arrived.

If its a slightly fishy/ plasticky smell check light fitting.Had similar +it the white plastic ring around light bulb fitting was discoloured +slight brown.Possibly light bulb too strong or warm

Check the back of cupboards or any furniture.

Dead mouse under something?
Baby sick at some point on the jute rug?

Have you got down with your nose to the carpet sniffing around to see if it’s stronger in one area than others?

We had this, it smelt a bit like moth balls but in a bad way, eventually worked out it was strongest by the skirting board in the smallest bedroom and the bathroom, also could be smelt in the cupboard in the kitchen below, we had the skirting board and floor boards up, had someone to come and test for damp, couldn't work out what it was, it got stronger and stronger and then eventually it went away, so I am assuming it was something dead in there.

Any plastics, esp plastic bags they stink at times. Or possibly baby dribbling milk and leaving sour smell.

It eventually went away thankfully so I'm still not sure what it was. Was down on my hands and knees sniffing everything and checked the backs of all furniture and paintings/ mirrors etc and nothing untoward. No idea what it was. The only thing I'm wondering is that ds was teething pretty hard at that point and had really stinky breath as a result so I'm wondering if it was him dribbling on the sheet in the cot... no idea otherwise!