Pediatrician

Children have an indescribable, delicious aroma that distinguishes them from adults. The baby has a sweet smell of milk that lasts for up to a year.

A one-year-old or older child also smells very pleasant. Loving mothers They smell their babies especially and begin to worry if suddenly something has changed in the usual aroma. Bad breath in a child is also a cause for concern.

1. Poor cleaning of the oral cavity.
2. Caries.
3. Other diseases.

Poor oral cleansing

After eating, food gets clogged in the spaces between the teeth, accumulates in the root zone and on uneven surfaces. And if it is not removed in time, it begins to decompose, emitting a fetid, rotten odor.

WITH early age The habit of brushing your teeth is established. It will be great to carry out hygiene procedures together, setting a good example.

In order to get rid of food debris, it is recommended to rinse your mouth with water or special rinses after eating. You should brush your teeth with toothpaste and a brush at least twice a day.

The cleaning process for children under 6 years of age must be supervised by adults!

The child must hold the brush correctly and direct the bristles from the roots to the tops. In addition to teeth, you also need to clean inner surface cheeks, palate and tongue, as it accumulates there a large number of bacteria.

The gaps between the teeth are passed with a special floss to remove food debris that is inaccessible to a regular toothbrush.

U infant At approximately 6 months the first tooth erupts. From this moment on, teeth are brushed with a special silicone brush with a limiter or in the form of a fingertip.

Spending just 5 minutes of time in the morning and evening on toileting your child’s oral cavity is not a problem.

Caries

Quite often, dental caries is accompanied by a putrid odor from the mouth. Three main causes of caries:

• poor cleaning of the oral cavity;
• poor nutrition;
• insufficient amount of saliva.

Hygiene is already clear. But what food contributes to the formation of caries? Sweets of all varieties, seeds, sweet carbonated water.

Saliva performs a mineralizing function, as it contains ionic compounds of calcium and phosphorus. Those, in turn, strengthen the enamel. Saliva also reduces acidity in the oral cavity, thereby protecting tooth enamel from destruction. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the normal amount of saliva.

To prevent the formation of caries and the smell of rot in the mouth, it is necessary to examine and sanitize the child’s oral cavity at least once a year. The first dental examination is carried out at 10 months, when the child may have from 2 to 6 teeth.

During childhood, saliva is produced in large quantities. Thanks to it, the oral cavity is constantly cleaned and prevents bacteria from multiplying. After all, it is the decay products of bacteria that smell of sulfur or ammonia.

It is because of dryness that occurs bad smell from the baby's mouth.

Measures to prevent this situation are:

• air humidification, ventilation;
• ensuring normal breathing through the nasal passages;
• to enhance salivation, give water with lemon;
• a child from 5 years old should drink about one and a half liters of water per day (especially in the summer);
• exclude salty foods, be sure to give fresh fruits and vegetables (they also increase salivation).

Difficulty in nasal breathing associated with a runny nose or adenoids leads to dry mouth with the consequences described above. The mucous contents from the nasopharynx enter the oral cavity, bringing in harmful bacteria, which also worsen the aroma from the mouth.

Children with chronic tonsillitis are accompanied by a fetid spirit due to suppuration and plugs in the lacunae of the tonsils. Also, small children love to stick various foreign bodies into their nose, which emit a foul odor if they are not detected in a timely manner and remain in the nasal cavity for a long time.

All these conditions are a reason to visit an otolaryngologist. Bad breath in a child over two years old due to the presence of adenoids may require surgical treatment.

Other diseases

According to Dr. Komarovsky, bad breath is due to the 4 factors described above, while other conditions and diseases have nothing to do with this. But you can still argue with this.

• Smell of acetone or urine appears when high temperature and intoxication, diabetes, dehydration.
• Sour smell curdled milk from the mouth occurs when a baby regurgitates. This phenomenon most often occurs in newborns or one-month-old babies, since the sphincter between the stomach and esophagus is not sufficiently formed. Any overeating or release of gas from the stomach is accompanied by regurgitation. A sour aroma is also characteristic of babies suffering from gastritis and reflux esophagitis.
• Sweetish smell- a feature for diseases of the liver and bile ducts.
• Unhealthy breath odor occurs in diseases of the respiratory system (bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia).

Of course, parents will be alarmed by the fact that a previously pleasant-smelling baby has begun to emit unpleasant odors. This can be solved independently by ensuring proper hygiene, optimal drinking regime and adequate air condition in the room.

If a child has a stuffy nose, fever, malaise, frequent regurgitation and abdominal pain, you need to seek help from specialists.

Graduated from the Siberian State Medical University (Siberian State Medical University), Tomsk. There are certificates in the specialty of physical therapy and emergency medical care. Second medical category. I work at an ambulance station, Kirov substation, Novosibirsk. Before that, she worked as a local pediatrician in a clinic and was on duty in the emergency department of a children’s hospital. Specialization: pediatrics, physiotherapy, medical care emergency care children.

A healthy baby has fresh breath and usually smells like milk. Bad breath in a baby indicates problems in the body that should alert parents. It is necessary to find out the cause of this phenomenon and eliminate the alarming symptom.

Why does there be an unpleasant odor?

The appearance of bad breath in an infant is a consequence of several factors. These include:

There are also “deeper” causes of bad breath. To determine exactly why this is happening, it is recommended to visit a doctor.

Which doctor should I contact?

It is extremely undesirable to self-medicate, even if the parents themselves have established the reason why the baby has a strange smell from the mouth. Sometimes the doctor himself cannot tell about pathologies in the child’s body; tests of urine, blood and feces are prescribed. In some cases, an ultrasound of internal organs is required.

If parents are unsure which doctor to contact, it is better to visit a pediatrician. He will assess the general condition of the body, examine the baby and check the throat. The doctor may then refer the child to the dentist if he or she already has teeth. The dentist examines the microflora of the oral cavity and examines the gums and teeth for diseases. You may need to consult a gastroenterologist who will check your intestines and stomach.

If a foreign body is found in a child’s nose, which causes the baby to breathe through the mouth, you should not try to remove it yourself. You need to take the baby to the nearest medical facility or emergency room. If a baby has difficulty breathing due to a cold, it is necessary to begin treatment, which will be prescribed by a pediatrician or ENT specialist.

It is important to correctly describe the characteristic smell that worries parents. Sometimes its specificity indicates specific problems with the baby’s health. For example, a strong odor from the mouth of a baby may indicate the development of halitosis. If a child smells of acetone, this indicates kidney disease or dysbiosis.

Once the cause of bad breath is identified, the doctor will prescribe treatment. Parents will have to carry out all procedures themselves. It is important to start therapy on time and follow all doctor’s recommendations.

How to get rid of odor

The first step is to ensure that your child has a normal drinking regime to prevent dry mouth. You should pay special attention to the baby’s diet, exclude sweets, and increase the amount of fruit. An apple, for example, helps cleanse teeth; its juice improves salivation. After it, the baby's breath smells much less.

It is necessary to brush your teeth from the moment the first tooth appears. Parents should do this twice a day using a special fingertip or silicone brush. It is recommended to clean the tongue with gauze soaked in water. This is especially true for children who have a white coating in their mouth. For thrush, the doctor usually prescribes a special ointment. It is necessary to visit the dentist regularly and treat caries in a timely manner.

In case of digestive problems, the baby is prescribed medications that relieve gas formation and promote normal intestinal function. Sometimes it is worth choosing a different formula or changing the diet of a nursing mother. Therefore, there is no need to rush to take medicines. A woman who is breastfeeding her baby should exclude spicy, sweet, and starchy foods from her diet.

It's no secret that strong emotions and overexertion are real stress for the baby. This may cause your child to have dry mouth. Therefore, in such situations, it is advised to give the baby a drink of water or juice. In general, it is better to avoid infants stressful situations.

Young children should not use special breath fresheners or lozenges, or alcohol-based lotions or mouth rinses. In any case, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible. This will save mother and child from unnecessary troubles and hassle.

Read with this too.

How upset and worried parents are when a child suddenly gets sick, and even a minor illness forces them to immediately look for remedies for the pathology. Children often suffer from diseases that are difficult for adults to understand, unless, of course, they themselves suffered from them in childhood. For example, what to do if a child has a sour smell from his mouth, and for a long time. What are the reasons for its appearance? Doesn't it indicate the development of pathology?

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Why does my mouth smell bad?

Parents of infants have probably had to deal with such a problem as a sour child. Some do not attach any importance to this, believing that the baby has ordinary indigestion, others, on the contrary, take a closer look at the child and begin to control his nutrition.

Attention! The smell of acid on your breath cannot be ignored. If you feel it for a long time, you should consult a doctor for advice, because it may indicate the development of a certain disease!

Parents need to know what's in everyone's mouth, including small child, a lot of microorganisms live. Some of them are completely harmless, they are not capable of causing any diseases. The other part is also safe, only unlike the first category, these microorganisms are not capable of causing the development of pathology in the body, under any circumstances. Between the two categories there is, so to speak, a conditional balance that can be disrupted by:

• hypothermia;
• fatigue;
• colds;
• diets, fasting;
• immunodeficiency states.

Factors are a signal for the activity of opportunistic flora, the proliferation of bad microorganisms, as a result of which the smell of sour breath, ammonia, rot, rotten eggs, etc. is often felt. This is because changes occur in the child’s oral cavity.

Important! Do it to determine what it feels like.

Let's take an example: a baby's breath smells like sour milk due to the active work of lactic bacteria fighting the proliferation of bad microorganisms. In older children, the symptom appears in rare cases, but still, if parents feel a sour smell from the child’s mouth, they should consult a doctor for advice.

When hugging a newborn baby, it is so pleasant to inhale the aroma of fresh milk that comes from the little toddler. What a surprise it will be if at one moment you feel not the aroma of milk, but a sour odor from the baby’s mouth. Why did it appear, because pathogenic microflora cannot multiply in the mouth of newborn babies. Then why does the child’s breath smell sour or have another unpleasant odor? The main causes of odor in newborns:

• hygiene;
• nutrition;
• lack of saliva in the mouth (dryness);
• nasal breathing is difficult;
• dysbiosis.

Sour breath is sometimes observed in young children due to poor oral hygiene. The fact is that some children start teething early, so doctors recommend teaching the child to practice oral hygiene as soon as the first tooth appears. A child under one year old cannot brush his or her teeth independently; parents must monitor the cleanliness of their teeth.

Important! At night, when the baby sleeps, the amount of saliva in the mouth decreases, which greatly pleases bacteria, which begin to actively multiply, causing an unpleasant odor in the morning.

If you brush your child’s teeth in the morning and rinse his mouth, the acidic smell will disappear. Dental hygiene with early years will help prevent the development of dental pathologies.

The smell of sour milk from the mouth may be due to nutrition; when a child eats a lot of milk and begins to burp, this symptom is a completely natural phenomenon.

Insufficient fluid intake is not the last reason why you smell sour milk.

Fact! When there is not enough saliva in the mouth, putrefactive bacteria begin to multiply very dryly; to eliminate the problem, let the child drink plenty of fluids.

Towards development unpleasant symptom in children on artificial feeding, can lead to difficulty breathing caused by a runny nose or sinusitis, dysbiosis, due to the lack of a beneficial effect on the microflora of the oral cavity, breast milk.

If your baby's breath smells sour, there is no need to worry too much. After all, the cause of this symptom may be the baby’s tendency to regurgitate. After the baby eats in his mouth, you can find leftover food - breast milk, formula that has managed to curdle.

The fact is that when dairy food enters the baby’s stomach, it begins to curd and become over-contaminated, but at the moment the stomach reacts – belching – it returns again to the oral cavity. An unpleasant sour odor is caused by incompletely poisoned milk formula returning to the oral cavity. To avoid such a nuisance, the mother needs to improve the baby’s nutrition.

Advice! Avoid overfeeding your baby; after eating, hold him in an upright position for a little while. If belching and a sour smell do not go away, despite following all the rules, consult a doctor for advice; the child may begin to develop dysbacteriosis or dysfunction of the digestive tract.

An unpleasant sour smell is always unpleasant, especially if it comes from a child’s mouth. What to do in this case, which doctor to contact to solve the problem.

When a sour smell appears, children usually complain of the following symptoms:

• pain in the stomach and hypochondrium;
• bad-smelling belching;
• heartburn;
• bloating;
• diarrhea.

If a child experiences the above symptoms and smells sour from the mouth, an examination by a gastroenterologist is necessary. It is very important not to delay visiting a doctor, because symptoms may indicate the development of:

• inflammation of the stomach;
• esophageal diverticulum;
• gastric juice in the esophagus;
• stomach or duodenal ulcer;
• thrush

By consulting a doctor, parents will be able to prevent the development of dangerous diseases and improve the baby’s condition.

Sour breath is not a death sentence, but a symptom that cannot be ignored. Take a good look at the child, monitor his nutrition, protect the baby from stressful situations. If your actions do not help get rid of the symptom, consult your pediatrician, he will tell you what to do in a specific situation, how to treat the unpleasant sour smell.

Bad breath is mainly a problem for adults, but can often occur in children as well. Availability unpleasant odor the child's mouth is definitely alarming caring parents. Of course, you shouldn’t panic right away; to solve the problem, you need to figure out why bad breath appears?

Possible causes of bad breath in a healthy child:

• Failure to comply with hygienic requirements for cleaning the oral cavity. The formation of plaque on the teeth, tongue and the accumulation of food debris are the main reasons why a child’s breath may smell. IN childhood this is especially relevant, since it is difficult to explain to a child that dental care is an important undertaking, and many children brush their teeth with great reluctance;
• Stage of transition of the baby to products with common table. Another source of bad breath appears - foods that, when consumed, produce a specific odor: onions, cheese, garlic. The smell disappears within 10 hours. Also the use in nutrition of foods that cause fermentation processes in the intestines. These include radishes, grapes, plums, cabbage and radishes;
• Introducing large amounts of protein and carbohydrate foods into a child's diet also creates an unpleasant odor when breathing. The baby's enzymatic system is not yet ready for large amounts of heavy food rich in proteins, so such food often lingers for a long time in the stomach, causing rotting and fermentation reactions. Carbohydrates are a breeding ground for the rapid growth of associations of microorganisms in the oral cavity, which, by releasing waste products, form bad breath.

Causes of bad breath

• A particularly common cause of bad breath in children is diseases of the respiratory system. Frequent sore throats, chronic tonsillitis, rhinitis, adenoiditis and sinusitis cause the growth of pathogenic microflora and a specific unpleasant fetid odor. Another problem is a foreign body in the respiratory tract that was not detected in time. Staying in the bronchi or larynx for a long time, it causes inflammation, the formation of pus and a specific odor;
• The oral cavity, in a certain area, combines the respiratory and digestive systems of the body. Accordingly, damage to the digestive system also causes the formation of an unpleasant, heavy odor from the mouth. Inflammation of the stomach wall and increased acidity in it can lead to the appearance of a sour and hydrogen sulfide odor. The smell of acetone indicates damage to the pancreas, and the smell of spoiled meat indicates liver disease. The appearance of an ammonia smell indicates kidney failure. Helminth infections also contribute to disruption of normal intestinal patency, stagnation and the appearance of a musty odor;
• Diseases of the oral cavity caused by an increase in associations of pathogenic microflora - caries, gingivitis and stomatitis, also color the breath with a specific shade. In childhood, stomatitis most often appears caused by bacteria, viruses or fungal infection;
• Pathological dry mouth caused by damage to the salivary gland, the habit of breathing through the mouth due to diseases of the upper respiratory tract or dehydration. Saliva has a bactericidal effect - it stops the growth of bacteria in the oral cavity. The absence or insufficient amount of saliva causes the normal odor of the mouth to change. Damage to the salivary gland can be caused by the mumps virus;
• Taking a few medications causes a side effect in the form of dry mouth, resulting in an unpleasant odor from the mouth. These include antibiotics, diuretics and antihistamines.

Prevention

• Proper oral care will help short time remove bad breath. Today, dentists recommend starting basic oral care for a child at 4–5 months. In an infant, specialized dental wipes are used to treat the oral cavity and cleanse the tongue of plaque. These wipes have a pleasant aroma and taste of various fruits; they are impregnated with xylitol (a sugar substitute), which is safe for babies and teeth. From the moment several teeth appear, you can use a miniature brush that fits on your finger; it is very convenient for cleaning teeth from plaque. Older children should be taught to brush their teeth regularly and correctly, preferably by example, because... Children tend to copy the behavior of their parents. It is necessary to teach your child to brush his teeth twice a day and rinse his mouth after any meal;
• It is advisable for young children to limit large amounts of heavy protein foods and sweets. Almost all children are big fans of sweets, so it is better to include honey and fruits in their diet. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the child does not develop an allergy;
• To prevent dry mouth, it is necessary to normalize the child’s water regime. In children, normal water consumption per day is 50–90 ml of water per 1 kg of body weight. It is worth increasing the amount of water you drink in the hot season, at high temperatures and when the child is more active. You can also stimulate salivation with food;
• Acidic vegetables and fruits, such as pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, lemon and citrus fruits, stimulate salivation well. Fresh cucumbers, carrots, celery and apples also help increase saliva excretion;
• Prevention of bad breath due to damage to the respiratory system is based on timely contact with an otolaryngologist and comprehensive treatment. The presence of foci of chronic infectious flora may require systematic sanitation, at least once every six months;
• The appearance of carious teeth and gum disease in children requires a visit to the dentist and mandatory treatment. Treatment of caries of primary teeth in young children is a difficult process, but necessary. Lack of treatment can cause complete tooth destruction and lead to some complications - pulpitis and periodontitis;
• In diseases of the stomach, liver, pancreas and kidneys, bad breath is only a symptom of the underlying disease. Of course, you should not lose sight of the smell of acetone, ammonia or spoiled meat from your child’s mouth. Severe illnesses are rarely accompanied by a single symptom, so it is necessary to contact a pediatrician in a timely manner if abdominal pain, poor appetite, weight loss, abnormal bowel movements, urination, and other numerous manifestations occur.