Toddlers breath stinks

[LemingtonPolly]

My son is 18 months old and his breath sometimes stinks.

When he gets up in the morning or if he had a cold it's very strong.

He has about 9 teeth and still teething. We brush morning and night. I say brush, we give him the toothbrush and try out best to get in we he will let us, otherwise he chews on the brush.

I asked the dentist at his checkup when he was younger and she said at this age it's about exposing them to the toothpaste and letting them have a go.

He only drinks water and milk.

I'm worried he has an infection or is this normal?

Is it possibly just dehydration/morning breath?

It is common to have worse breath when you have a cold.

Does he have any other sign of infection, does he seem well in himself?

My DD, who was a lot older than your son, had foul breath. The one thing that stopped it was taking those little yogurt drinks with good bugs in them. So I assume it was her stomach rather than her breath.

@carefullycourageous could be! I just didn't think toddlers got morning breath 😅

@carefullycourageous he had a temperature recently and chewing his hands a lot and appetite was decreased but that could have been the cold or teething I suppose.

@KangarooKenny yes my mum even says it's not a breath smell it's like it's coming from his stomach.

I might try those. Was it like actimel or Yakult ?

I don't think you're meant to give those little drinks to toddlers, I would look into it.

I've noticed my 1yo has bad breath for a day or two when they have cold symptoms. Generally part of the mix along with snotty nose, highish temp, loose poop and sometimes bit of conjunctivitis. All of them fleeting but seem to be his common symptoms/indicators when unwell.

We bought any of them, it didn’t matter which.
But do look at what age you can have them from.

My dd has this but particularly when she's coming down with something. She does snore a bit at night especially when she's got a cold which I presume makes the breath less fresh! Was just thinking I hadn't noticed it was bad recently and she's been virus free so it must be particularly when she's sick.

That doesn’t sound right to me - I know children who have things stuck up their nose sometimes have very bad breath, but I wouldn’t dismiss it as morning breath.

Has he had tonsillitis ?

@KangarooKenny not that I'm aware of. Never had swollen glands though.

You do need to actually brush the teeth yourself. Yes to letting them play but they need a proper clean by you too.
But it’s unlikely to be the cause of the smell. My DD has awful breath sometimes and it’s not her teeth. I think it’s the endless colds.

Is he an open mouth breather/snorer?

My DD's breath absolutely stank every morning and frequently throughout the day despite adequate brushing. She had enlarged tonsils and adenoids which meant she was constantly breathing with her mouth open and was a heavy snorer, this lead to smelly breath. As soon as she had them out it cleared up. Now she only suffers if she is poorly.

@Cluckycluck not not a particularly bad snorer only when he had the cold.

@Thursday37 any tips?

He just clamps his mouth closed and grabs the brush when we try to intervene.
We've tried singing, tickling him so he opens his mouth, brushing ours to encourage him.

The only way we can get ur in for one is us to hold him and he screams and fights.

I don't want teeth brushing to become a traumatic experience

tonsil stones?

DD had awful breath. And constant tummy ache. Turned out she's intolerant to lactose. We'd tried everything you can think of and loads of specialists. But it wasn't until she was a teen that she finally got the strictly no lactose right.

No answer on the bad breath I'm afraid but in answer to how do you clean their teeth... my dentist said that it's good to let them do it themselves but every other day you need to brush them even if that means pinning them down. We give ours the toothbrush for 3 cleans (morning, night, morning) and then on the second night we give a thorough clean.

I assume there are no other flags for diabetes or blood sugar issues (ketotic breath) ?

@Winkydink blood sugars have never been checked.

But as far as i know/can tell no obvious issues.

Pees a lot but not anymore than average I don't think.

Drinks enough but not constantly thirsty.

Does it smell like acetone?

Does your LO suck his thumb by any chance? My DD sucks her thumb and we mentioned how smelly her breath can get at a dentist check up, even when she’s brushed her teeth and they said the germs from her hands being in her mouth a lot are sitting in her mouth. We make sure to help her out with her teeth, especially her tongue.

2 year old DS’ breath smells dreadful when he’s either got a cold or teething, especially in the morning. It does clear up in between though and nursery said it’s quite common in toddlers when they are under the weather.

Here are a few things that have worked for DS (2 and 3 months) and teeth cleaning:

• A special tooth brushing song that we sing when cleaning his teeth
• Making up little rhymes related to teeth when cleaning them
• Finding 'tooth trolls' in his teeth and getting rid of them with the toothbrush
• Doing it in front of the mirror so he can watch it
• Encouraging him to open and close his mouth to make a funny sound with the toothbrush
• Cleaning my teeth in front of him as much as possible

It doesn't always happen, but a combination of these usually does the job (there's been a couple of times I've needed all of them though!)