Baby Breath - When Can Changing Your Baby's Diet Help? Smell from the mouth in a child Sweetish odor from the mouth in a child Komarovsky

The appearance of a specific odor from the mouth of a child is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance. It is important to find out if it is a symptom of a serious illness.

A child has bad breath: causes that do not require treatment

The most common cause of bad breath in a child is poor hygiene. It is also the most easily removable: parents need to teach their child to brush their teeth correctly and monitor the regularity of hygiene procedures.

A child's health is directly related to the quality of nutrition. If you have too much protein or sweets in your diet, you may experience bad breath. The reason for this is the processes of putrefaction in the intestines.

A specific smell can be the body's reaction to a specific product. In this case, he will disappear after brushing his teeth, but he can pursue the child the next day. Most often, bad breath remains after consuming the following foods:

Garlic
Hard cheeses
Corn
Radish
Dairy products
Sweet carbonated drinks.

Malfunctions of the digestive system against the background of normal nutrition are noted in children during a period of intensive growth. This is due to the fact that the internal organs do not have time to adapt to the rapidly changing skeleton. Typically, similar problems occur between the ages of 6-7 and 10-12 years for girls and 4-6 and 13-16 years for boys. In this case, bad breath is a normal phenomenon that goes away by itself and does not require treatment.

Cause for concern

A healthy child's mouth contains a huge amount of bacteria. Some of them - non-pathogenic bacteria - will never cause disease. Another group of bacteria - conditionally pathogenic - do not manifest themselves until the moment when favorable conditions for their reproduction appear. If the child's immunity is weakened, the activation of the pathogenic flora begins.

An imbalance of microorganisms in the oral cavity is most often caused by dry mucous membranes. There are several reasons for this drying out:

Mouth breathing
Low indoor humidity
Insufficient fluid intake
Disruption of the salivary glands
Long-term medication
Psychological stress.

A dry mouth is a favorable environment for the growth of pathogenic bacteria. By settling on the mucous membranes, they cause inflammation in the mouth (stomatitis, caries, periodontitis, fungal infections) and nasopharynx (rhinitis, tonsillitis, adenoiditis), which become sources of unpleasant odor. The inflammatory process in the nasopharynx is also accompanied by edema under the eyes, impaired nasal breathing, snoring.

Diabetes mellitus is indicated by the characteristic smell of acetone, and kidney disease is indicated by the smell of ammonia.

The unpleasant symptom can also be caused by mumps, which affects the salivary glands.

The psychological factor of the disease

When a child has a bad breath, parents immediately rush to look for physical pathologies. However, psychological stress can play an equally significant role in the appearance of bad breath, because it helps to reduce the secretion of saliva, and this reduces local immunity and makes the child vulnerable to infection.

It is worth considering: perhaps the cause was a nervous shock? It is necessary to analyze the behavior of the baby recently, his relationship with others: to find out if there are any problems in kindergarten or school, if the child is being bullied by peers. It is important to create a positive atmosphere in the family: then the baby will trust his parents and talk about his fears and concerns.

If the child has experienced strong excitement, you need to give him plenty of water to avoid dehydration and drying out of the mucous membranes.

You can get rid of baby's breath by adjusting hygiene and nutrition. A few tips to help parents:

Replace sugar with natural fruits and honey
Add more vegetables to your diet
Reduce the amount of protein
Make sure that the child drinks at least one and a half liters of clean water per day
Buy quality toothpaste and brush
Teach the child the technique of brushing teeth (removing food particles from the interdental space and plaque from the tongue).

If the child is still very young, it is worth checking if there is a foreign body in his nose. Perhaps this is the reason for the bad smell: an inflammatory process develops in the nose, and purulent discharge is formed, which the baby swallows.

To remove a foreign body, you need to see a doctor.

If these methods do not help, most likely, the reason lies in the onset of the disease. In this case, there is no need to mask an unpleasant symptom: it is important to seek help in time and cure the disease.

Parents should not self-medicate. The most correct decision would be a visit to a pediatrician: he will conduct a comprehensive examination of the child, specify all the necessary information for making a preliminary diagnosis, and only then will he send him to the right doctor (dentist, otorhinolaryngologist, gastroenterologist, etc.). To clarify the diagnosis, a specialist may prescribe laboratory and ultrasound examinations. This approach will allow you to quickly determine the cause of the unpleasant odor and prevent the development of serious consequences.

Delicate problem: baby's bad breath

If the child is old enough to evaluate the attitude of others towards himself, he may be ashamed of bad breath. Moreover, at school, he may experience difficulties in communication, be humiliated and ridiculed.

It is very important that the parents conduct an educational conversation in time and explain to the child that he is not to blame for the problem. Sometimes a sensitive reaction causes the child to have a strong interest in coping with the trouble faster, and he is happy to follow all the prescribed recommendations.

The opposite situation is also possible: the child develops an inferiority complex, he withdraws into himself and does not want to make contact with either parents or doctors. In this case, you should think about consulting a psychologist.

Immediately after birth, the baby has a very pleasant smell. This is due to its "sterility". The newborn has not yet had time to fully face the harmful effects of the environment, so the microflora of his body is clean and perfect. However, with age, parents may notice a rather unpleasant and even repulsive odor from the mouth of a child. This worries many, so we will understand the causes of this pathology.

Bad breath in a child is a symptom, the cause of which must be found out. Bad breath - a norm or a pathology?

Smell from the baby's mouth, especially in the morning, can be due to the drying out of saliva, the accumulation of bacteria in the oral cavity, or the development of a disease. In the latter case, the smell will be persistent and characteristic. If after the morning procedures (brushing teeth and tongue, rinsing) the specific aroma does not go away, the child should be shown to the doctor. The pediatrician will examine him, conduct an examination and confirm or refute the fears of his relatives.

Why does a healthy child have a strange odor from the mouth? Let's consider the physiological reasons for this phenomenon:

eating strongly sweet, carbohydrate-containing foods or foods with a specific smell (onions, garlic);
drying out of the nasopharyngeal mucosa and saliva due to excessive physical activity, stress or after sleep;
the use of drugs that cause odor;
a small child can put something in his nose (for example, a piece of washcloth, rubber), which will lead to rotting of the object and the appearance of an odor;
hormonal changes during puberty, lack of vitamins, trace elements and iodine in the body.

The main causes of unpleasant odor

Bad breath occurs at any age and can be associated with rot, iodine, acid, acetone, urine, or rotten eggs. With the transition to solid food and the appearance of teeth in an infant and children over a year old, food remains remain in the oral cavity, which leads to the multiplication of bacteria and fungi in the body. With proper oral care and hygiene, odor usually disappears unless it is a symptom of a medical condition.

Consider the main causes of pathology:

lack of hygiene;
diseases of the oral cavity;
diseases of the ENT organs;
bronchial infections;
disease of the digestive system;
damage to the liver, kidneys;
diabetes.

Neglecting oral hygiene

The most common cause of morning odor is inadequate or inadequate oral hygiene of a child, or eating foods that cause a specific odor (such as garlic).

Parents need to take control of this issue, as some children neglect oral hygiene. As a result, many microbes appear on the remnants of food in the mouth, it rots, decomposes, and plaque forms on the teeth and tongue. Caries and bad breath appear.

Diseases of the teeth and gums

Almost all diseases of the teeth and gums are accompanied by an unpleasant odor from the mouth:

caries;
gingivitis;
stomatitis;
periodontal disease;
tartar, etc.

The child should be taken to the dentist, even if no changes are visible on the teeth. Many pathological processes in the teeth begin without damage to the enamel, therefore, a specialist examination is necessary to exclude or confirm the diagnosis.

Diseases of the nasopharynx
Bad breath will be observed in diseases of the ENT organs

Bad breath can be a consequence of a developing disease of the ENT organs. The main diseases causing pathology:

Acute, purulent or chronic tonsillitis (tonsillitis). As a result of the multiplication of bacteria in the nasopharynx, purulent plugs form on the glands, the tonsils become inflamed. A child with angina feels unwell, pain when swallowing, his temperature rises. Mucus with bacteria accumulates in the throat, which causes a putrid, sour smell.
Sinusitis, acute or chronic rhinitis also causes this unpleasant pathology. Purulent mucus flows down the back wall of the nasopharynx, stagnation of snot, pus occurs, so the child smells unpleasant.
Neoplasms and cysts in the throat. This pathology is the most dangerous, since the only symptom may be putrid breath. The disease is often asymptomatic.

Pulmonary infections

Lung infections interfere with bronchial secretions, causing phlegm and coughing. This process is very dangerous for children, especially for a child under one year old. His lungs are not sufficiently developed to get rid of mucus on their own, so it, along with bacteria, accumulates in the bronchial tree, and a smell appears when coughing up. If the problem is not addressed, bronchitis and pneumonia develop.

Diseases of the digestive system

When, when communicating with a child, relatives notice that his mouth smells sour or rotten, then most likely the baby has digestive problems.

Gastrointestinal diseases are also the cause of bad breath

The appearance of an unpleasant odor may indicate:

gastritis;
disruption of the stomach;
excessive secretion of gastric juice;
duodenal disease;
neoplasms and tumors in the digestive organs;
disruption of the valves in the stomach;
improper nutrition.

Liver disease

The appearance of a sweetish odor in a child's mouth when exhaling indicates liver disease. If the disease passes in an acute form, other symptoms also occur: discoloration of nails and skin, a yellowish coating on the tongue, itching and a rash on the body. These symptoms indicate acute liver failure, impairment of its work and blood flow.

Liver disease is indicated by a sweetish or rotten odor, not only from the mouth. Over time, the skin of the baby begins to exude the same aroma.

If additional symptoms appear, you need to urgently consult a doctor who will send you for tests and ultrasound. If measures are not taken in time and treatment is not started, the child may fall into a coma.

Kidney disease

The baby's mouth may smell like urine or ammonia. This pathology is associated with:

improper diet;
taking medications;
kidney disease (pyelonephritis, stones, neoplasms).

The functioning of the kidneys is affected by a lack of fluid in the body. If a child drinks little water, and his diet mainly consists of carbohydrate foods, this leads to an increased load on the urinary system. The kidneys do not cope with their functions, the body stagnates urine and accumulates decay products, which cause the smell of ammonia.

Diabetes

For the full functioning of the body, glucose is needed, which comes from certain foods. The hormone insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, helps her get into the cells. With its lack, glucose is not transported to the cells, which leads to their starvation.

To avoid bad breath in diabetes mellitus, you must adhere to a special diet

This picture is observed in children with diabetes mellitus, when the hormone is not produced enough or it is completely absent. This is caused by pathological changes in the pancreas. The reason for this may be heredity. The accumulation of glucose and ketone substances in the blood provokes the smell of acetone and iodine.

Does the appearance of the smell depend on the age of the child?

Bad breath can appear at any time in life and does not depend on age. This problem is relevant for both adults and children, and this pathology is more common in childhood. This is mainly due to inadequate hygiene and improper nutrition. Whatever the reason for the odor, the child should always be seen by a doctor.

What is the treatment of pathology?

Physiological odor from the mouth does not require treatment. It is often enough to review the child's diet and nutritional quality, limit the intake of carbohydrate and sweet foods, monitor the amount of fluid intake and proper oral hygiene. If the smell does not go away after a week, this indicates some kind of disease. This smell will disappear when the cause is identified and eliminated. To do this, you should contact a specialist.

Prophylaxis
From an early age, it is necessary to instill in the child the habit of dental care

To prevent odor from the oral cavity, the baby must be taught to follow oral hygiene from the moment of teething. In addition, starting at six months, the baby is given clean boiled water between meals, since at this age the liquid contained in breast milk is no longer sufficient to maintain water balance.

In one-year-old babies, the first teeth must be cleaned with a bandage. It is wound around a clean index finger, moistened with boiled water and wiped on each tooth on both sides. If there is a plaque on the child's tongue, it must be removed without pressing, so as not to provoke a gag reflex and not to injure the tissue.

From 2 years old, parents brush their baby's teeth with a toothbrush. A three-year-old child must do this himself under parental supervision. From the age of 10, children can floss (see also: electric toothbrushes for children aged 6 and over). The child's diet should contain fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and fiber. Parents also need to monitor the amount of clean water drunk by their child (excluding teas, juices, compotes, etc.). Norms of its use:

Sometimes parents can observe an unpleasant smell from the mouth of a child, it is felt that it smells like some kind of rot. But not all mothers properly relate to this phenomenon, justifying the bad smell in children by the peculiarities of its nutrition and other reasons that are suitable in their opinion. But in fact, this is a rather serious problem that must be addressed immediately. Therefore, it is important for parents to study the causes of bad odor and how to deal with them.

The child's breath smells - why

There are several reasons why babies may smell bad.

Poor oral hygiene. Unpleasant sour breath in a child can occur due to poor oral hygiene. Children under 7-10 years of age, for the most part, brush their teeth reluctantly and not thoroughly. For this reason, every time after a meal, hundreds of bacteria begin to multiply in the baby's mouth, which lead to tooth decay and inflammation of the gums. This is where the bad smell comes from. Therefore, parents should teach their baby to thoroughly brush their teeth at an early age. This will not only avoid unpleasant sensations, but also keep your teeth and digestive tract healthy.
Some food and drinks. Foods such as cheese, onions, garlic, many juices, corn, etc. can cause the growth of various pathogenic bacteria that have a characteristic odor. It often occurs in children after eating sweets. In this case, it is important to explain to the baby that after eating you need to either brush your teeth or just rinse your mouth.
Fungus on the oral mucosa. Every person has a certain amount of microorganisms and bacteria in their mouths. When their balance is disturbed, children and adults have a bad odor in the mouth, since an inflammatory process rages on the mucous membrane. The imbalance is mainly due to poor nutrition. In this case, it is recommended that the child be shown to a specialist.
Plaque on the tongue of the child. Often mothers only care about the teeth of their children, completely unaware that the tongue also needs to be cleaned. The unevenness of the tongue is an excellent place for the accumulation of food debris, which in turn become an excellent habitat and reproduction of microbes. Therefore, from the first days of life, the baby also needs to regularly cleanse the tongue.
Accumulation of mucus in the sinus. This ailment can overtake both a one-year-old baby and an older child. In addition to a bad smell, the patient often notes the presence of a strange taste in the mouth. This disease needs qualified treatment.
Breathing through the mouth. At the moment when the baby breathes not with his nose, but with his mouth, the mucous surface dries up, which also provokes the appearance of an unpleasant odor. Chronic sinusitis and seasonal allergies make your baby unable to breathe normally through his nose. Therefore, a common or allergic rhinitis should be treated as early as possible.
Tonsillitis. This disease is accompanied by the multiplication of pathogenic bacteria in the glands, which become the source of bad breath in children. Sometimes food debris accumulates in the glands, which begin to rot and exude a disgusting odor. A child with this disease should regularly gargle with plain water. And from his diet, it is worth excluding products such as cottage cheese and cheese, as well as seeds.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. An increase in acidity in the stomach and accumulation of gastric juice in it also provoke a bad smell in children. This phenomenon is especially often observed in a child who has eaten heavy food.
Stress, emotional stress and fears of a baby under 5 years old. All these phenomena, at first glance, completely unrelated to the oral cavity, lead either to excessive saliva production, or, conversely, to its temporary absence. Dryness and increased moisture in the mouth can also be called one of the most common causes of bad breath.

Many parents are perplexed why their newly born babies smell bad from the mouth, because the baby eats exceptionally healthy food - breast milk. In fact, this is due to the fact that the child, having eaten the breast and not washed down with regular water, is also exposed to the emergence in the mouth of a favorable environment for the development of bacteria.

Combating bad breath in children

The first step, regardless of how old your child is, is to see a specialist. The doctor will conduct oral examinations, ask you about accompanying symptoms and, if necessary, prescribe treatment. If the doctor did not identify any pathologies, and the smell still does not go away, then you can solve the problem yourself.

First, for a child under three years old, parents must brush their teeth on their own. This will help you to thoroughly clean the mouth of the crumbs. Secondly, exclude all sweets from the baby's diet. No matter how old the child is, sweets and cakes can bring minimum pleasure and maximum harm! Replace artificial sugar with regular natural honey. This natural product will not affect dental health and will bring many benefits to the overall health of the body. It is only worth remembering that children under 2 years old can poorly tolerate honey and beekeeping products, so it is worth introducing this product into the baby's diet gradually. Thirdly, babies after 2 years old should be offered to eat a little block or an orange after the main meal. These fruits increase salivation and help reduce the number of microbes in the mouth.

A child's strong breath, caused by improper hygiene and eating unsuitable foods, can be eliminated on your own. The main thing is to carefully consider this problem.

Bad breath is called halitosis. A strong bad breath, especially in a child, indicates oral diseases or metabolic problems. By the nature of the smell, you can determine the cause of the disease and prescribe a specific treatment. A child's mouth odor can be acetone, ammonia, putrefactive, etc. We will tell you more about this in this article.

Causes of bad breath in a child

Causes of bad breath in a child include:

Insufficient oral hygiene - in this case, the cause may be inappropriate toothpaste or neglect of oral hygiene.
Infection in the oral cavity - the activity of pathogens can cause putrid breath in a child.
Dysfunction of the salivary glands - a change in bad breath may indicate a violation of the composition of saliva, as well as an insufficient level of secretion.
Difficulty nasal breathing reduces the protective functions of the oral mucosa, inflammation occurs. Also, with nasal breathing disorders, infectious diseases of the upper respiratory tract are more frequent.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Metabolic disease.

Sometimes the appearance of a foreign odor from the mouth can be a manifestation of stress, in which case the phenomenon passes quickly. In some cases, halitosis indicates problems with the cardiovascular system, pathologies of the nervous system, immunodeficiency states, and hereditary diseases.

If the problem occurs frequently and lasts for long periods of time, you should see your doctor.

Odor types and possible diseases

How to treat?

If there is a strange odor from the baby's mouth, the following steps should be taken:

See your dentist for an oral examination. If no diseases were detected, it is necessary to continue the examination.
Consultation with a pediatrician will help to collect the child's history and make a list of further tests. Then you will need to undergo an examination according to the instructions of the pediatrician
Examination of an ENT doctor will help determine otitis media, tonsillitis, sore throat and inflammation of the adenoids. Also, halitosis can occur with frequent ARVI, sinusitis and pharyngitis.
Consultation with a gastroenterologist for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, biliary tract. You may have to do an ultrasound of the liver and gallbladder, undergo gastroduodenoscopy.
To pass general tests: urine, blood, feces, to determine possible problems: inflammation, gastrointestinal diseases, kidney disease, anemia.
Donate blood for biochemistry to identify metabolic problems, hormonal imbalances and diabetes.

After the source of the problem is found, it is necessary to follow the instructions of the attending physician, providing the child with all the conditions for a speedy recovery. A complex of therapeutic measures is prescribed by a specialist; you can take preventive measures yourself.

Prevention of bad breath in a child

To prevent halitosis in children, the following steps should be taken:

Choose a toothpaste suitable for the child, teach the baby to independently monitor the cleanliness of the oral cavity.
Eliminate excess sugary foods, limit salt and spices.
Take measures to stop dysbiosis: consume probiotics, include fermented milk products in the diet.
Rinse fresh vegetables and fruits thoroughly before eating.
Give your child more clean drinking water, especially in hot weather. A child over four years old needs to drink about one and a half liters of water, not counting tea, juices and liquid in food.
To improve bad breath, you can use herbal decoctions, after eating food, chew chewing gum.
It is necessary to start monitoring the hygiene of the oral cavity from the age of six months: in the pharmacy you can buy a special soft brush, and brush your teeth, gums, tongue and inner surface of the cheeks first without paste. Starting from a year and a half, you can buy special children's pastes, with their help it will be possible to prevent tooth decay and teach your baby to regularly brush his teeth.
Also, you need to strengthen the baby's immunity. Introduce complementary foods according to age, choose dietary and hypoallergenic foods. Over-salted, spicy foods, canned foods, and instant foods should be avoided.
To monitor your health, you must regularly visit the pediatrician at the place of residence.

Any changes in the state of health of children are accompanied by various symptoms - lethargy, decreased appetite, fever, and even the occurrence of bad breath. The latter symptom is a particularly important indicator that something is wrong in the child's body. Bad breath in a child can signal the development of various diseases that every parent should be aware of.

Bad breath in medicine is called in one word - halitosis. Its development is provoked by bacteria that are in the oral cavity. Some of them allow you to maintain a certain microflora in the mouth, therefore, they are absolutely safe for health. But there are also those that are unsafe.

As a rule, both bacteria maintain the microflora balance. But the influence of some factors, for example, starvation, stress, infectious processes, can provoke active reproduction and growth of pathogenic microorganisms, as a result of which there is a change in the microflora of the oral cavity.

In the absence of pathological processes in the body, newborn babies smell like milk from the mouth, since at this age they only feed on it, which leads to the active growth of lactic bacteria. It is they who during this life period of the child suppress the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms.

Children over one year of age should also not have halitosis. And if bad breath appears in a child 2 years old and older, then it is necessary to carefully analyze the situation and identify the main reason why this symptom has arisen and what it can signal.

However, if you have previously undergone a full examination with your child and he did not have any pathologies, you should not worry. After all, even a perfectly healthy baby can sometimes experience halitosis. This is due to several reasons:

Eating certain foods that smell bad on their own, such as fresh garlic or onions. The composition of these products contains substances that are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, but are excreted from the body for a very long time. Therefore, after using them, halitosis in a child may persist for the next several days.
Improper nutrition. If a child eats a lot of protein products (meat, fish, seafood, etc.), then it is likely that this is what causes halitosis in him. This is due to the fact that the protein is digested for a very long time by the digestive system, and when it is consumed in very large quantities, putrid processes occur in the digestive system, which lead to the appearance of bad breath in the child. It is worth noting that the cause of halitosis in a baby can be hard cheese, which children love so much. The thing is that when it is digested in the body, sulfur compounds are formed, which are released along with the exhaled air.
Stress. With any excitement of the nervous system, some babies experience increased sweating and salivation, which leads to the occurrence of halitosis.
Lack or improper adherence to personal hygiene rules. Many children simply do not like to brush their teeth or do it poorly, which leads to the active reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms. Parents should explain to the child the importance of this procedure and show him how to properly care for the oral cavity. It is not enough to simply brush the surface of your teeth. It is also necessary to clean regularly the surface of the tongue and the inner sides of the cheeks, as they also have bacteria on them.
Eating a lot of sugar. Various chocolates, biscuits and other sweets, which contain sugar, cause fermentation in the body, which creates a favorable environment for the development of bacteria and the appearance of bad breath.

If you notice halitosis in your baby, you can correct the situation on your own, but only if the child does not have various pathological processes. First of all, it is necessary to exclude crumbs of sweets from the diet. If the child does not have an allergic reaction to honey, then it is better to use it instead of sugar.

At the same time, care should be taken to ensure that the baby consumes as much fresh vegetables and fruits as possible, especially carrots and apples, as they have a beneficial effect on the condition of the oral mucosa and help suppress the growth of bacteria.

A very important role in this matter is played by full-fledged oral care. Brush your teeth at least 2 times a day. Rinsing the mouth should be carried out after each meal and it is advisable to do this with herbal decoctions that have aseptic effect (for example, chamomile, St. John's wort, calendula, etc.).

It is important to teach your baby how to use dental floss, since it is very difficult to remove food debris in the interdental space with a regular brush. But it is they who can also provoke the appearance of an unpleasant odor, since if they are not removed, they begin to rot.

In the event that parents closely monitor their baby, observe all the above rules, and still have a bad breath in the child, the reasons may be hidden in pathological processes. It is very important to show the baby to the doctor and try to explain to him the nature of the unpleasant odor. After all, it can be different and you can make a preliminary diagnosis on it.

If a child smells of rotten eggs from his mouth, then this indicates a malfunction of the stomach and the occurrence of inflammatory processes in it.
Sour breath in children signals an increased acidity of the stomach and the occurrence of gastritis or ulcers. And the putrid smell is about low acidity.
If the baby smells acetone from the mouth, then this indicates development.
Kidney pathologies are manifested by an unpleasant odor of ammonia from the oral cavity.
If a child's mouth smells of cabbage or feces, then this indicates an impaired metabolism.
Liver diseases are manifested by a sweetish odor from the mouth.

But it is worth noting that bad breath in a child can also occur as a result of the development of other diseases. For example, if you have adenoids. They are overgrown lymphoid tissue in which chronic inflammation occurs. As a result of its growth, mucus forms on the surface of the adenoids, which depletes the unpleasant odor. This symptom should not be ignored, since the appearance of adenoids leads to the fact that the child begins to breathe through the mouth. And this contributes to overdrying of the mucous membrane and its trauma.

Halitosis in a child can occur as a result of various viral and infectious diseases of the throat and oral cavity, as well as acute or chronic respiratory diseases.

In addition, the appearance of bad breath in a child 3 years and older may occur against the background of the presence of carious teeth and gum disease. It often appears as a result of the development of a fungal infection. It is very simple to determine it, since when a fungus appears, all the mucous membranes of the oral cavity are covered with a white bloom.

If we talk about why a child has bad breath, then several other diseases should be noted:

chronic diseases of the digestive system - stomach, pancreas, gallbladder, etc.;
viral diseases such as chickenpox, smallpox, etc.;
liver disease;
helminthic invasions;
genetic diseases that lead to metabolic disorders;
dysbiosis.

In some children, halitosis occurs while taking certain medications. Most often, its appearance provokes the use of antibacterial agents.

If you notice that your baby has occasional bad breath, show it to the doctor right away. After all, this symptom, subject to all the rules of personal hygiene, clearly indicates the presence of serious diseases that require urgent treatment.

Video about bad breath in children

The child's breath smells - why

There are several reasons why babies may smell bad.

Poor oral hygiene. Unpleasant sour breath in a child can occur due to poor oral hygiene. Children under 7-10 years of age, for the most part, brush their teeth reluctantly and not thoroughly. For this reason, every time after a meal, hundreds of bacteria begin to multiply in the baby's mouth, which lead to tooth decay and inflammation of the gums. This is where the bad smell comes from. Therefore, parents should teach their baby to thoroughly brush their teeth at an early age. This will not only avoid unpleasant sensations, but also keep your teeth and digestive tract healthy.
Some food and drinks. Foods such as cheese, onions, garlic, many juices, corn, etc. can cause the growth of various pathogenic bacteria that have a characteristic odor. It often occurs in children after eating sweets. In this case, it is important to explain to the baby that after eating you need to either brush your teeth or just rinse your mouth.
Fungus on the oral mucosa. Every person has a certain amount of microorganisms and bacteria in their mouths. When their balance is disturbed, children and adults have a bad odor in the mouth, since an inflammatory process rages on the mucous membrane. The imbalance is mainly due to poor nutrition. In this case, it is recommended that the child be shown to a specialist.
Plaque on the tongue of the child. Often mothers only care about the teeth of their children, completely unaware that the tongue also needs to be cleaned. The unevenness of the tongue is an excellent place for the accumulation of food debris, which in turn become an excellent habitat and reproduction of microbes. Therefore, from the first days of life, the baby also needs to regularly cleanse the tongue.
Accumulation of mucus in the sinus. This ailment can overtake both a one-year-old baby and an older child. In addition to a bad smell, the patient often notes the presence of a strange taste in the mouth. This disease needs qualified treatment.
Breathing through the mouth. At the moment when the baby breathes not with his nose, but with his mouth, the mucous surface dries up, which also provokes the appearance of an unpleasant odor. Chronic sinusitis and seasonal allergies make your baby unable to breathe normally through his nose. Therefore, a common or allergic rhinitis should be treated as early as possible.
Tonsillitis. This disease is accompanied by the multiplication of pathogenic bacteria in the glands, which become the source of bad breath in children. Sometimes food debris accumulates in the glands, which begin to rot and exude a disgusting odor. A child with this disease should regularly gargle with plain water. And from his diet, it is worth excluding products such as cottage cheese and cheese, as well as seeds.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. An increase in acidity in the stomach and accumulation of gastric juice in it also provoke a bad smell in children. This phenomenon is especially often observed in a child who has eaten heavy food.
Stress, emotional stress and fears of a baby under 5 years old. All these phenomena, at first glance, completely unrelated to the oral cavity, lead either to excessive saliva production, or, conversely, to its temporary absence. Dryness and increased moisture in the mouth can also be called one of the most common causes of bad breath.

Many parents are perplexed why their newly born babies smell bad from the mouth, because the baby eats exceptionally healthy food - breast milk. In fact, this is due to the fact that the child, having eaten the breast and not washed down with regular water, is also exposed to the emergence in the mouth of a favorable environment for the development of bacteria.

Combating bad breath in children

A child's strong breath, caused by improper hygiene and eating unsuitable foods, can be eliminated on your own. The main thing is to carefully consider this problem.

About the problem

The appearance of a specific odor from the mouth of a child is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance. It is important to find out if it is a symptom of a serious illness.

A child has bad breath: causes that do not require treatment

Garlic
Hard cheeses
Corn
Radish
Dairy products
Sweet carbonated drinks.

Cause for concern

An imbalance of microorganisms in the oral cavity is most often caused by dry mucous membranes. There are several reasons for this drying out:

Mouth breathing
Low indoor humidity
Insufficient fluid intake
Disruption of the salivary glands
Long-term medication
Psychological stress.

Diabetes mellitus is indicated by the characteristic smell of acetone, and kidney disease is indicated by the smell of ammonia.

The unpleasant symptom can also be caused by mumps, which affects the salivary glands.

The psychological factor of the disease

If the child has experienced strong excitement, you need to give him plenty of water to avoid dehydration and drying out of the mucous membranes.

You can get rid of baby's breath by adjusting hygiene and nutrition. A few tips to help parents:

Replace sugar with natural fruits and honey
Add more vegetables to your diet
Reduce the amount of protein
Make sure that the child drinks at least one and a half liters of clean water per day
Buy quality toothpaste and brush
Teach the child the technique of brushing teeth (removing food particles from the interdental space and plaque from the tongue).

To remove a foreign body, you need to see a doctor.

Delicate problem: baby's bad breath

Children should smell like milk, candy and childhood. But sometimes parents notice that the child has bad breath. This is most noticeable in the morning after sleep. At the same time, the baby is healthy, active, does not complain about anything, is not sick with anything. With questions about the reasons for such an unpleasant phenomenon, mothers and fathers turn to pediatricians, dentists, other parents, on the Internet, and, quite often, to the authoritative doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky.

About the problem

Doctors are precise people, they like to organize and name everything. There is a "name" and such a phenomenon as bad breath - halitosis. Medical encyclopedias describe it as a symptom of certain diseases of the stomach and intestines, as a sign of a violation of the oral microflora. The term does not denote an independent disease; medicine considers bad breath to be an exclusively external manifestation of certain internal problems.

And although bad breath has been known to doctors since time immemorial, it was decided to call it an independent name only in 1920, when it was very necessary to somehow identify the problem in order to make a successful advertising campaign for a mouthwash. The tool, by the way, has been and is being sold quite successfully now. And the name just entered the reference books.

Komarovsky about the problem and the reasons

The reasons for the appearance of unpleasant amber from the mouth of a child may be different. But almost all of them ultimately boil down to the fact that the smell is a consequence of the multiplication of bacteria in the oral cavity. In this case, microbes secrete special substances containing sulfur components. It is this substance that is responsible for the bad smell. Usually saliva is detrimental to microbes, it literally paralyzes them and prevents them from multiplying. But if the properties of saliva, its composition are violated, the saliva itself is not enough, then the bacteria feel themselves "masters of the situation."

Lack of saliva or a change in its chemical composition lead not only to the appearance of an unpleasant odor, but also to the emergence of certain bacterial infections - in the nose, in the larynx, in the bronchi and trachea, in the ears, for example. And this is quite natural, since reproducing harmful microorganisms need a new living space, the oral cavity is no longer enough for them.

Officially, medicine calls one of the reasons for the appearance of bad breath diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, but Yevgeny Komarovsky is convinced that there is no such relationship at all. If only for the reason that the smell from the esophagus cannot enter the mouth through a special "valve" that closes the digestive organs.

But the food that the child took can greatly affect the appearance of the smell. For example, if he ate garlic, grapes. Such a smell should not be a cause for concern, as it goes away on its own.

Bad breath can also be a concomitant symptom of diseases of the nose, or rather the maxillary sinuses. Then the stench is associated with the accumulation of pus in them. The same symptom accompanies sore throat, when bacterial inflammatory processes occur on the tonsils, in the larynx. Even with the usual small runny nose, the child begins to breathe through the mouth, the saliva dries up, and pathogenic microbes receive a favorable environment for reproduction.

The main reasons for the appearance of an unpleasant odor will be described by Dr. Komarovsky in the next video.

The most obvious cause of bad breath is dental problems. It is easiest to install it, it is enough to carefully examine the teeth, and if the beginning caries, swelling of the gums, their redness, swelling are noticeable, you should go to an appointment with a children's dentist. After eliminating the cause, the smell will disappear on the same day.

In addition, there are other reasons, which medical specialists will help to establish at a personal appointment.

Odor specifics play an important role in diagnostics. For example, the smell of acetone can be a sign of acetone syndrome, diabetes mellitus, and gallbladder problems. The sweetish smell should alert most of all, as it is often accompanied by serious liver pathologies, hepatitis, severe depletion of the body.

The smell of ammonia from the mouth may indicate possible problems with the liver, metabolism, excess protein that the child receives from food. And the smell of drugs is usually not dangerous, it quite naturally occurs when taking certain medications, for example, vitamins or antibiotics.

In any case, a child's bad breath cannot be ignored. The sooner you go to the pediatrician for a personal appointment, the sooner he will establish the cause and help you choose the treatment tactics. The disadvantage of modern health care is that doctors, unfortunately, determine the nature and intensity of bad breath empirically, smelling on their own. For accurate diagnostics, a special device is needed that determines the amount of sulfur in the exhaled air.

But the analyzes of feces, blood and urine, loved by our children's doctors, which prescribe all children with complaints of bad breath, are absolutely useless. This ritual is rather a tribute to the tradition of the old pediatric school. They are made because it is customary to do them every time you contact the clinic with any complaints.

In the case of liver damage and diabetes mellitus, as well as other serious causes of odor, all recommendations of the attending physician should be followed. If the reason is a violation of the microflora of the oral cavity, that can be dealt with independently.

Getting rid of such a bad smell is easy enough, says the famous pediatrician. It is enough to be attentive to the air humidity in the apartment where the child lives. Too dry air dries out the oral cavity. It is best to maintain a humidity level in the house at around 50-70%. To do this, Evgeny Olegovich recommends buying a special device - a humidifier.

To maintain a sufficient production of saliva, Evgeny Komarovsky advises giving the child to drink lemon water - plain water or mineral water without gas with the addition of lemon juice and a large lemon wedge. The acidic environment will irritate the taste buds, saliva in response to irritation will begin to be produced more actively and microbes in the oral cavity will not be good. The doctor emphasizes that sometimes it is enough just to show the child a slice of lemon, if he is already familiar with its taste. Saliva in this situation begins to be secreted reflexively.

In case of an unpleasant odor against the background of a runny nose, the doctor recommends doing saline rinsing of the nose and giving the child more to drink. As soon as nasal breathing is restored, saliva stops drying out.

Saliva will be secreted in sufficient quantity to resist microbes, if the child has a normal drinking regime, the parents do not allow dehydration.
Most of the bacteria that are "guilty" of halitosis live on the tongue and the inside of the cheeks, especially if they have plaque. If the child's age allows, the doctor advises to teach the child to clean the tongue with a special brush.
For brushing your child's teeth, choose a paste with a pleasant pine scent and completely abandon rinses that contain alcohol, as they additionally dry out the oral mucosa.
There is a myth, especially supported by grandparents, that close contact with domestic cats and dogs can cause bad breath. The four-legged have nothing to do with it, there is no need to drive out the cat or give the dog into good hands.

Bad breath in a child cannot but worry his parents. Indeed, this phenomenon does not always have relatively harmless reasons associated with lack of hygiene or food eaten the day before. Sometimes such a baby needs a full-fledged medical examination, which will help identify the cause and eliminate it. We will tell you about why a child may have an unpleasant smell from the mouth in this article.

Origin

A strong unpleasant fetid odor from the mouth in medicine is called "halitosis". This concept does not imply any one specific disease. This is a whole complex of problems with the human body, which can cause the rapid growth of anaerobic microbes, which create this "aroma".

If a child has a bad breath, this is not always a signal that the problem lies in the unhealthy oral cavity. "Malfunctions" can be caused by "failures" in the ENT organs, and in the digestive system, and in the kidneys. Thus, the root causes of the appearance of bad breath can be quite varied, and the mechanism is always the same. Aerobic microbes live and develop in the mouth of a healthy child. Their task is to prevent the development of anaerobic "brothers", which include streptococci, Escherichia coli and a number of other microorganisms.

If the balance of microflora in the mouth is disturbed for some reason, and anaerobic bacteria begin to quantitatively and qualitatively prevail over aerobic bacteria, a fetid odor appears.

Anaerobic (foul-smelling) bacteria feed on protein deposits on the tongue, teeth, gums, and when they multiply, they release volatile sulfur and non-sulfur compounds. Depending on what kind of connection will be formed, what will smell from the mouth depends:

methyl mercaptan- the simplest gas, giving the smell of rotten cabbage and feces;
allyl mercaptan- a colorless gas that forms the smell of garlic;
hydrogen sulfide- gas with a sweetish smell, giving the smell of rotten eggs, feces;

dimethyl sulfide- a gas compound that gives a pronounced chemical smell of sulfur or gasoline;
putrescine- an organic compound that gives off the smell of rotting meat;
dimethylamine- a compound that causes the smell of fish and ammonia;
isovaleric acid- a compound that explains the smell of sweat, spoiled milk.

There are about two dozen such compounds, and their chemical compositions and features have no practical application for parents. After all, the main task is to find the source of the spread of anaerobic microbes.

Halitosis is eliminated only when its true cause is eliminated.

Common Factors

The reasons why a child has bad breath can be physiological and pathological. In the first case, we can talk about:

violation of hygiene rules- insufficiently thorough cleaning of teeth and gums, rinsing the mouth;
dietary habits- the breath becomes foul-smelling due to the products that the child eats (garlic can spoil the exhaled air even a day after eating it, and the onion smell persists for up to 8 hours);
small sores and sores in the mouth due to natural causes (teething, for example).

The list of pathological causes is more extensive, it includes various ENT ailments, dental diseases and problems with the digestive organs:

caries, stomatitis, periodontal disease, etc.
pathology of the upper respiratory tract (chronic or prolonged rhinitis, adenoiditis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, tonsillitis, tonsillitis);
lower respiratory tract diseases (bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia);

diseases of the digestive system (gastritis, stomach ulcer, enzyme deficiency, which leads to disorders of the digestive process);
diabetes;
kidney disease, renal failure;
malignant tumors and neoplasms of internal organs.

Nonspecific reasons deserve special attention. Often children have bad breath, not only because they have a certain disease. The smell can have psychosomatic reasons - severe stress, fear, fright, long-term psychological experiences. Another reason that parents should be aware of is disturbances in the surrounding microclimate. If the child breathes in too dry air, the mucous membranes of the nose and oropharynx dry out, as a result of which aerobic microbes cannot effectively resist anaerobic microbes, and bad breath develops.

If the child does not eat regularly, skips meals, the smell may be the smell of food that is not fully digested in the stomach, and rises up the esophagus. This does not mean that the child has digestive disorders, in this case the smell is a signal for parents to establish proper and rational nutrition. Most often, in children, odor from the mouth becomes a consequence of gastro-oesophageal refluxes, which are very common in childhood. With them, part of the food is thrown back into the esophagus. This problem is age-related, and in most cases it is successfully "outgrown" by babies.

At the same time, children with helminthic infestations often do not suffer from bad breath, and their parents bring them to the doctor's office due to completely different symptoms.

The nature of the smell

Some pathologies in their symptoms have unpleasant and characteristic symptoms of halitosis. So, there are smells that should definitely alert parents and make them immediately pay a visit to the pediatrician:

Acetone. Acetone from the mouth of a child may smell due to the development of diabetes mellitus. And if a child has an unpleasant acetone odor against the background of a high temperature, then this may indicate the development of acetone syndrome. A faint acetone odor can accompany periods of fasting.
Rotting. A putrid odor appears with complicated caries, with serious dental problems. If there are none, then the child should be examined by a gastroenterologist, since the smell of rotting meat often accompanies diseases of the stomach, duodenum, and pancreas. It is characteristic that he appears at the very initial stage of ailments.

Sweetish smell. A pronounced sweet smell with sugary shades can indicate a purulent process. It usually develops in the nasopharynx, mouth, throat. Such a smell can be observed in a child with angina, bacterial rhinitis, adenoids. If the ENT doctor does not find pathologies, it is imperative to show the child to a gastroenterologist who examines the baby's liver. Some liver pathologies are accompanied by the appearance of a sharp sweet odor from the mouth.
Sour smell. The appearance of a pronounced sour odor may indicate that the child has reflux. In infants, such a smell can occur often, as the body's reaction to the introduction of complementary foods, to a change in the mixture. In this case, the smell has a certain shade of sour milk. Sour smell in children at 2-3 years old always speaks of stomach problems. Survey is required.

Smell of ammonia. Such a smell appears during periods of severe illness associated with intoxication of the body. If the appearance of the smell was not preceded by a disease, this should be especially alarming - an ammonia smell with a sharp manifestation often accompanies kidney disease, the development of renal failure. A weak ammoniacal odor may indicate the development of diabetes mellitus.
Yeast smell. Fresh yeast from the mouth of the child can smell due to candidiasis. Fungi of this family, multiplying, emit a specific odor.

The smell of rotten eggs. This smell usually appears in diseases of the stomach and intestines. Sometimes it resembles the smell of feces. The symptom requires a mandatory examination by a gastroenterologist.
Smell of iodine. The aroma characteristic of this antiseptic in children usually appears due to the oversaturation of the body with iodine. This substance tends to accumulate, and therefore if a nursing mother takes iodine preparations, and the same substance is contained in complementary foods (in a mixture, for example), then a corresponding smell may appear from the mouth of a small child. In children over 10 years old, the appearance of an iodized odor may indicate an iodine intolerance.
Metallic smell. The smell of metal from the mouth of a child may indicate that he has ailments associated with the onset and development of anemia.

Diagnostics

Parents need to watch carefully to understand what else has changed in their child besides bad breath. All internal diseases usually have additional symptoms and signs:

With a sour smell, it is important to make sure that the child does not have heartburn, does not bother with the stomach, and everything is in order with his stool. And with a hydrogen sulfide "aroma", it is imperative to monitor whether the child has belching, nausea, or vomiting often.
With a bitter smell you need to examine the baby's tongue and oral cavity for the presence of yellow or grayish plaque, which are characteristic of many pathologies of the liver and gallbladder. When an acetone or ammonia smell appears, you need to measure the baby's temperature, collect urine for analysis and then go to the clinic.

Sometimes bad breath is a contrived problem. Overly impressionable mothers and grandmothers find him where he really is not.

After all, if a child's breath smells unpleasant in the morning, before he has had time to wash and brush his teeth, this does not mean the pathological causes of the phenomenon.

There are home tests for halitosis. The first is carried out with a spoon. With the handle of a cutlery, they gently take a little plaque from the child's tongue and assess it for smell. The second implies the ability of saliva to "absorb" odors. The child is asked to lick the wrist and wait for the saliva to dry, after which its smell is assessed. Both methods are quite subjective.

The doctor can tell in more detail about the presence of an odor and its probable causes, after conducting an accurate medical test for halitosis. Research is called halimetry. It includes a simple procedure - the child will be asked to exhale into a special device, and the analysis of the exhaled air will show whether it contains hydrogen sulfide, sulfur and non-sulfur compounds. The entire study takes no more than fifteen minutes. If bad breath is established, the doctor may take samples of plaque from the tongue and inner surface of the cheeks for bacteriological examination. The child's saliva samples will also be sent to the laboratory in a sterile container.

Parents will be given referrals to visit specialists such as a pediatric dentist (dentist), otolaryngologist, gastroenterologist, and nephrologist. The dentist will examine and sanitize the oral cavity. If sore teeth or gums are found, the baby will immediately receive the necessary treatment. ENT will assess the condition of the tonsils, nasopharynx, larynx. In case of detection of diseases, he will prescribe adequate therapy. The gastroenterologist will do an ultrasound of the abdominal organs, if necessary - endoscopy with a mandatory sampling for the analysis of gastric juice for acidity (especially with sour breath). The nephrologist, based on the analysis of urine, will make a conclusion about the state of the child's excretory system.

To get the most reliable result, the day before visiting the doctor, the child does not need to be given products containing sulfur compounds - garlic and onions, as well as spicy foods.

If possible, you should stop taking all medications. In the morning before going to the clinic, the child should not brush his teeth, rinse his mouth, use a freshener or chewing gum.

How to get rid of?

Treatment of halitosis should be based on treating the cause that caused the bad breath, since there is absolutely no point in fighting the effect without eliminating the cause. Usually, treatment for bad breath includes general and specific guidelines. The general ones apply to all reasons without exception. Private - are relevant when the underlying disease is identified.

The child must brush his teeth properly. This should not be done immediately after the baby woke up, but after breakfast, and then in the evening after dinner, just before bedtime. The brush should be comfortable, moderately stiff, with a special "platform" for cleaning the tongue and cheeks. Show your child how to use it correctly. Children from 6-7 years old during the evening brushing of their teeth may well use a special device - dental floss, since the brush alone is not enough to fully clean the oral cavity from small food particles and protein plaque.
At the age of one year, the child can start using children's toothpastes. They are created taking into account the fact that the toddler can swallow them and do not cause any harm to the health of the child.

All dental problems need to be identified and treated in a timely manner., therefore, the child should be taken to the dentist at least once a year, and preferably two, for examination and sanitation of the oral cavity.
Proper nutrition will help keep your breath fresh. Sugar, sweets and baked goods contribute to the formation of protein deposits on the tongue, gums and teeth. Fresh fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, help cleanse the mouth and promote normal digestion. Fermented milk products must be present in the child's diet - they contribute to the formation of the correct digestive function.

You should not give in large quantities food that promotes the formation of molecules of organic compounds of a sulfurous and non-sulfurous nature. These include onions and garlic, corn, cabbage, sodas, especially soda.

It is important to attach great importance to the problem of bad breath during adolescence. At this time, when the body is undergoing significant restructuring at the hormonal level, such a problem may appear, especially in girls, especially during menstruation. In this case, oral hygiene procedures should be carried out using special therapeutic dental products - gels, pastes, rinses.
The right microclimate also plays a huge role in the health of the oral cavity.... The child should not breathe dry and dusty air. To do this, it is recommended to buy a humidifier and set it at a level of 50-70%. With such humidity, saliva is produced in sufficient quantities, its antiseptic properties are at a high level, it can easily cope with bacteria that enter the oral cavity.

It is especially important to adhere to such indoor air parameters in apartments where babies from one year of age and older live. They quite often “pull” everything into the mouth, as a result of which microtraumas of the oral cavity occur, and the likelihood of infection increases significantly.

Treatment of halitosis with medicines

Common methods:

Strange breath from illness, usually disappears as the child recovers from the underlying pathology. In this case, medications are prescribed by a doctor, depending on the diagnosis established during the examination.
In some cases, dental gels are used to treat halitosis as such.("Metrogyl-denta", for example). Children should not use alcohol-based adult products for rinsing. For rinsing, you can use a drug such as "Chlorhexidine solution". Doctors recommend small patients to rinse their mouth with a decoction of chamomile (ready-made dried preparations are sold in any pharmacy). The herb scent effectively eliminates bad breath. And adolescents can use antiseptics, such as "Asepta".

Means "Triclosan", which has long been considered an excellent oral antiseptic for the whole family, it is not recommended to give children to children, as recent medical research has shown that the drug increases the risk of developing allergies.
Effective antiseptic "Celitepyridine" exists in the form of lozenges. They can be given to children from 6 years old. But the remedy "Camphomen" - a combined preparation for irrigation of the oral cavity and inhalations, helps quite well, but it is not recommended to use it for children under 5 years old.

With the above medicines, you should not try to mask bad breath. Treatment will only be effective and correct when it includes both local treatment of the oral cavity and the main therapy prescribed by the doctor based on the results of the examination.

Folk remedies they cannot act as an independent treatment for halitosis, and therefore it is better to refuse them. With the permission of the attending physician, you can use only some of the recipes from the arsenal of alternative medicine - herbal rinses with chamomile, lemon balm, mint.

Prophylaxis

Measures for the prevention of bad-smelling, unpleasant breathing are in an integrated approach:

proper hygiene of the oral cavity, teeth, rinsing the mouth after each meal;
timely visits to doctors and adequate treatment of diseases of the ears, throat and nose, stomach, intestines, kidneys, as well as systemic allergies;
balanced diet;
strengthening of immunity, vitamin therapy.

Dr. Komarovsky will tell you about the main reasons for the appearance of an unpleasant odor in the next video.

The most pleasant smell in the world is the smell of a newborn baby. The little baby smells of milk and vanilla, in addition, it smells of tenderness, velvet, affection and love. The child grows up, acquires an individual aroma characteristic of a person. One morning, Mom will be horrified when she smells the baby's foul breath - a familiar picture to some parents.

Where does bad breath come from in children?

Normally, the air from the mouth of children is neutral and does not attract attention. But from time to time, a sharp, unpleasant aroma is felt, causing the excitement of parents. The reasons for the appearance in a child are different, consider the most common:

Most often, odors are temporary and are not associated with pathology. They change during the day, appear and disappear. This is normal.

Smell at a certain age

As they grow older, the smells coming from a child's mouth change. Age features will tell the parent the reason. What is the difference between the breath aroma of a baby and a teenager:

What smell speaks of illness

Sometimes an unpleasant odor appears as a symptom of an illness. How to understand when it is enough to carry out a hygienic procedure, and when a doctor's help is required? Halitosis is not a disease, but it helps identify an associated disease. Rate the scent and compare if it fits the description:

Purulent or putrid, accompanies diseases of the ENT organs: tonsillitis, sinusitis, etc. Pus smells are felt in the presence of stomatitis and dental caries. Examine the oral cavity, perhaps you can quickly find the site of inflammation.
Sour speaks of pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, dysbiosis or candidiasis of the oral mucosa.
The smell of rotten eggs indicates an abundance of hydrogen sulfide gases in the stomach, a rotten smell from the mouth indicates possible stomach diseases.
A sweet aroma is an alarming sign, a sugary sweet smell indicates liver disease.
If you feel the taste of acetone in the baby's breath, it is possible that there is a consequence of diabetes or gastrointestinal diseases, and requires urgent medical attention.
The fetid smell of rot appears with a cold, ARVI, with a runny nose, means that an inflammatory process develops in the body.
If bile enters the esophagus, the baby will sometimes smell like vomit, although he was not nauseous.

The aromas of breath are not directly a symptom of the disease, they do not need to be treated, but together with other signs give an impetus to the correct diagnosis if you see the signs: high fever, runny nose, unnatural color of urine, pain, the child quickly gets tired. If the smell does not go away for months, go to see your pediatrician. The doctor will conduct a comprehensive examination.

How to get rid of bad breath?

If the "aroma" is the result of a disease, follow the doctor's prescription. Be sure to follow the prescribed procedures, go through the prescribed additional research. When the root cause is eliminated, the smell goes away. What if the child is healthy, but the smell is still present? Doctor Komarovsky, well-known in Russia, gives recommendations:

The baby's mucous membranes should be moist - this is the main principle in protecting against viruses and microbes that infect the nasopharynx. If the air at home is dry, you will need to ventilate more often, install a humidifier. Let it work even at night, because during sleep, the walls of the nasopharynx dry out. In the absence of a humidifier - put pans of water, hang wet towels - choose any method to achieve at least 50% moisture. The indicator of moisture is dry crusts in the nose, if present, moisture is required.
Observe an abundant drinking regime, the child's body constantly needs clean drinking water. This is especially important during illness. If a preschooler does not drink water well, it is supposed to come up with games with drinking water, start a beautiful mug or sippy cup, teach how to pour water on your own. The liquid removes toxins and decay products, it is important to drink a lot.
Monitor the cleanliness of the oral cavity. You need to start hygiene from the first days of life. In babies, the gums and tongue are wiped with a cotton swab, with the appearance of the first tooth, use a soft brush. You need to clean your teeth and tongue twice a day using toothpaste, rinse after each meal.
The baby's nutrition should remain varied, including cereals, vegetables, fruits, dairy products (in the absence of individual contraindications), some meat, fish and other protein foods. Reduce your intake of sugar, sugar-containing foods. Replace with fruits, candied fruits, dried fruits, marshmallow. Start the first feeding with vegetables, do not rush to introduce meat into the diet. If after eating food from the mouth smells bad, it is better not to give such food yet. Exclude carbonated drinks, packaged juices.
It is permissible to give the child water acidified with lemon to stimulate salivation. If the baby doesn't like the water, in the future it is enough to show the lemon, the saliva will be released automatically. Offer acidic fruits, which are good for maintaining the microflora of the mouth and intestines.
Daily walks are required. If, in good weather, the child walks for 2-4 hours daily, this will strengthen the immune system. The body will begin to cope more successfully with germs and bacteria.
Get regular checkups from your pediatrician and dentist on time, even if there is no reason to visit the doctor. The doctor will assess the development of the child, check the health indicators, examine the mucous membranes, and give advice.

How to disguise bad breath when it can't be eliminated altogether

One of the causes of bad breath is taking medication. The scent will accompany the child until the drug is stopped, becoming sharper with each dose received. Or, a more frequent case when the baby eats something odorous (fresh onion), and you need to take the child to class or visit. How to mask or kill an unpleasant scent:

Brush your teeth, gums and tongue with a paste with mint or pine needles aroma, rinse your mouth with an alcohol-free mouthwash.
Hold in your mouth, chew on another product with a strong but pleasant smell. For example, mint or lemon balm (possibly dried), citrus zest.
Rinse your mouth with a decoction of herbs. They remove odors well: oak bark, mint, chamomile, lemon balm, rose hips.
Give your teen a coffee bean or a piece of ginger. Coffee absorbs foreign odors.
Use an alcohol-free refreshing spray or sugar-free gum.

Do not mask the smell unless you know the reason. Perhaps this is the only sign of a latent disease.

Your baby's scent is light and delicate. With proper care, it will remain pleasant for years to come. Compliance with the rules of hygiene, daily regimen and nutrition and timely referral to a pediatrician are the key to the good health of children. Take care of it.

All parents are concerned about the well-being of their children and their child's bad breath is a concern. Its appearance not only interferes with full communication with peers and the social development of the baby, but can also be a symptom of one of the serious diseases.

Usually, a baby and a one-year-old child smells like milk from the mouth. During this period of life, lactic acid bacteria are especially active in the growing body, and the products of their vital activity suppress any extraneous odor. The mouth of a child 2 years of age and older should also not smell bad. But often children have a putrid or sour odor from the mouth - this phenomenon is called halitosis (or halitosis).

We propose to figure out what factors can provoke bad breath in a child, what parents should do to identify and eliminate its cause.

Why does halitosis occur?

Various reasons can cause a baby to have bad breath:

Halitosis is often caused by eating foods with a strong and persistent aroma (such as cabbage, onions, garlic, etc.). Moreover, the child's breath smells not only after taking them, but even the next day, since aromatic substances are well absorbed by the mucous membrane. When some hard cheese is digested, sulfur compounds enter the intestinal lumen, which have a characteristic persistent odor.
Often times, baby's breath can be caused by an unbalanced diet. For example, the answer to the question of why a child smells like rotten from the mouth is often an excess of protein foods in the diet. The body cannot digest them quickly, so putrefaction begins in the digestive tract. Excessive consumption of foods rich in carbohydrates causes fermentation in the intestines. Eating sweet food provokes the active development of bacteria in the oral cavity, the waste products of which also smell unpleasant.
Common causes of bad breath in children are anxiety, stress, and other emotional disturbances. With strong feelings, the secretion of saliva decreases, the mucous membrane of the mouth is not cleared naturally and deposits appear on it. Such plaque is an excellent breeding ground for the development of pathogens. The use of certain medications (antiallergic or diuretic) also leads to impaired salivation.
One of the answers to the question of why a child's breath smells is non-observance of the rules of oral hygiene. With irregular brushing, deposits appear on the teeth, gums and tongue, in which microorganisms develop.

Have your child brush their teeth regularly

The listed reasons can cause halitosis in a healthy baby, but in some cases such manifestations are symptoms of a serious illness. Halitosis often indicates diseases of the nasopharynx or oral cavity. Tooth decay, gum disease provoke the smell of rot from the mouth. The same effect occurs with inflammatory processes of the mouth and nasopharynx: increased mucus secretion, sore throat, gingivitis, stomatitis, inflammation of the adenoids and even a banal rhinitis.

The second most common cause of halitosis is diseases of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract: the esophagus, stomach, digestive glands, one of the parts of the intestine.

If the baby has an unpleasant odor, the parents must first of all normalize his nutrition, personally monitor the hygiene of the oral cavity, and eliminate the causes of the anxiety. If these measures do not bring the desired result within a few days, you need to consult a doctor for examination and appropriate treatment.

Survey

In case of halitosis, first of all, you need to visit the dentist. In addition to the treatment of carious teeth and gum disease, the oral microflora is examined in the dental office, which will help to clarify the picture of what is happening with the baby.

If no dental problems are identified, you need to visit a pediatrician.

At the reception at the pediatrician

Various diseases have their own specific odor, so it is important to correctly describe its nature to the doctor:

With diseases of the stomach or gastrointestinal ulcers, it often stinks of rotten eggs.
Sour breath in infants and older babies indicates increased gastric secretion.
With low acidity, the body does not have time to completely digest food, therefore, it can stink of rot from the oral cavity.
Diabetes mellitus is the reason that a child's mouth smells like acetone.
In case of kidney disease, it smells like ammonia, and in case of liver dysfunction, it smells like raw liver.
Metabolic disorders can cause sour cabbage odor.

To determine the exact reason why the breath stinks, the doctor prescribes additional tests, including blood, feces, urine tests, ultrasound examination of internal organs, as well as consultation of other specialists (otolaryngologist, gastroenterologist, endocrinologist).

How to eliminate unpleasant odor?

Since the appearance of halitosis is influenced by different factors, each case must be considered individually. If the cause is a disease, the appropriate specialist should deal with the problem. Once the root cause has been treated, the halitosis usually disappears as well.

To eliminate halitosis, which is not caused by a disease, follow these recommendations:

Observe good hygiene rules. The odor from the mouth in a child 1 year and older often disappears if you brush your teeth with a special silicone brush 2 times a day and clean your tongue with a gauze swab moistened with boiled water. Older children should brush their teeth on their own with a soft baby toothbrush. Parents should be taught how to properly brush their teeth and tongue.

If a child refuses to brush his teeth, you cannot force him to do so. Coercion causes a negative reaction, and at the slightest opportunity, the baby will avoid the procedure. It is best to teach gradually, starting with rinsing the mouth after each meal. Also, a bright toothbrush or a rinse cup with your favorite cartoon character will help you quickly get used to the procedure.

Normalize your baby's diet. Instead of sweets and other products containing sugar, it is better to accustom him to honey and dried fruits. Fresh vegetables and fruits also help to eliminate the manifestations of halitosis. Their use reduces the number of bacteria in the oral cavity, they also help to clean the surface of the mucous membrane and eliminate plaque formed on it.
Always listen to your baby's problems, even if they seem funny. In stressful situations, give more water - this will normalize salivation.

Important! Children should not use mouthwash, special lozenges and breath fresheners. Lotions containing alcohol are also contraindicated for them. It is better to rinse your mouth with decoctions of medicinal herbs: chamomile, sage, oak bark. These decoctions do not have an unpleasant taste, so children will be happy to perform the procedure.

Halitosis is a disease that not only creates difficulties for a child when communicating with peers, it can also indicate serious disorders in the functioning of the body. Therefore, when an unpleasant odor appears, all measures must be taken in order to identify and eliminate its causes.

Mothers constantly monitor the health of their children. When a special smell arises from the mouth, they begin to look for the cause of this pathology. Bad breath is caused by various reasons, the main of which is irregular care of the oral cavity. However, in some cases, the symptoms that appear can signal the occurrence of serious health problems for the baby and the need to visit a pediatrician. Why does a child (2 years old) have bad breath?

Varieties of odor from the mouth in children

There are several types of odors that can occur in a child. To determine it, you do not need to visit a specialist, but you can do it yourself.

Odor types:

Chemical. It occurs when taking antibiotics or other medications. Sometimes this may indicate the presence of diseases of the digestive system.
Sweetish. A smell may indicate a baby's liver problems. To avoid further serious problems, it is necessary to urgently consult a gastroenterologist.
Rotten. Sometimes, when belching, the child develops a disgusting smell, reminiscent of rotten eggs. This may indicate diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Sometimes such a smell is felt with severe lesions of the excretory system.

If the child is 2 years old, there is a smell from the mouth, then the mother needs to go with the baby to a medical institution.

Food

The child is old enough to try some foods without adults. A temporary deterioration in breath odor can be triggered by garlic, onions, celery, smoked meats. When food debris is mixed with saliva, various enzymatic reactions occur in the mouth in the form of fermentation. A baby's (2 years old) mouth odor appears for the same reason, so parents need to brush their baby's teeth to eliminate it.

Digestive system problems

A particularly nasty smell in a baby can cause heartburn or belching, which occurs constantly. Mom needs to watch the baby after eating. If the baby develops dysbiosis, then he will be disturbed by flatulence and increased gas production.

If there are problems with the sphincter, then some of the contents of the stomach can be thrown into the esophagus, which causes sour breathing in the child. Along with a similar sign, the presence of bitterness in the mouth, nausea, hiccups, vomiting is possible. In case of intestinal pathology, a black plaque is noticeable on the baby's teeth, which encircles their necks. When parents notice a special smell from the mouth of a child, it is best to go to an appointment with a specialist.

Oral hygiene

Poor care of the baby's teeth contributes to the formation of plaque, in which pathogenic microorganisms constantly multiply. They cause bad breath in the baby. 2 years is the time when the baby's teeth continue to be cut, therefore it is extremely important not to allow unsanitary conditions in the oral cavity during this period. Parents should constantly take care of the cleanliness of the baby's mouth. If he refuses to brush his teeth, then perhaps the reason is a toothbrush or toothpaste that he does not like. The sooner it turns out to form the right attitude to oral care, the faster situations associated with bad breath will be resolved.

Parents should monitor this process constantly. Sometimes they do this before the child is 7-10 years old.

ENT organ pathologies

The oral cavity and adjacent organs affect the saliva content, its composition and properties. If chronic diseases of the ENT organs appear, then its viscosity increases. This is caused not only by the microflora of the oral cavity, but also by the habit of not closing the mouth. Saliva normally cleans the teeth of food debris. During sleep or mouth breathing, this process is disturbed. Instead of a method of cleaning teeth, saliva turns into a factor that promotes the multiplication of microorganisms and bad breath in a 2-year-old child.

Colds and acute respiratory infections

With a sore throat, the baby, along with the fever, has a smell from the mouth, which becomes fetid. Children 2 years of age are prone to the occurrence of such a pathology, because they begin to attend kindergarten, their immune system weakens.

Viral stomatitis is characterized by a viscous state of saliva, redness and swelling of the gums. When the tongue is affected, plaque appears on it, as well as painful sensations when caring for teeth and eating.

Bad breath in a child (2 years old) occurs with stomatitis, which is characteristic of diseases such as chickenpox, scarlet fever and herperangina.

Doctor Komarovsky about the causes of the smell

The factors causing bad breath in a child can be of various origins. If the baby is 2 years old, bad breath can be caused by bacteria. After all, microbes secrete waste products that smell like sulfur. Usually saliva has a detrimental effect on microorganisms, but if its properties and composition are changed, then they begin to multiply vigorously. The result is bacterial infections in the nose, bronchi and trachea.

According to Dr. Komarovsky, bad breath in a child (2 years old) cannot be caused by diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, because it does not penetrate outside due to the closing valve of the stomach. But the food that the baby ate can negatively affect the freshness of breath. This usually happens when eating garlic or onions. This smell should not be a cause for concern, because it goes away on its own.

Komarovsky believes that bad breath in a child can occur with maxillary sinus disease. This is due to the appearance of pus in them. An unpleasant odor is present with angina and other inflammatory processes in the larynx and tonsils. Even a common runny nose leads to the fact that the child breathes through the nose, saliva dries up and pathogens develop.

The real cause of bad breath in a child (2 years old) is a pathological condition of the teeth. If he has swelling and redness of the gums, caries, then an urgent need to contact a pediatric dentist.

The doctor emphasizes that the specificity of this indicator also plays a role in establishing the cause of bad breath. If you smell acetone, your baby may develop medical conditions such as diabetes or gallbladder disease.

Komarovsky warns that the sweetish smell should make parents wary, because it is accompanied by serious liver or kidney pathologies.

In any case, the child's unpleasant breathing is a reason for an urgent appeal to a medical institution.

With changes in the microflora of the oral cavity, according to Komarovsky, parents can cope on their own. To do this, it is necessary to maintain the humidity level in the room in the region of 50-70%. To do this, you need to purchase a humidifier.

To get enough saliva, your baby needs to drink lemon water all the time. It consists of plain water, lemon juice and a slice of lemon. An acidic environment is capable of irritating receptors, therefore, active production of saliva will occur, microbes will die.

If bad breath occurs with a runny nose, the child needs to do saline washings and give more liquid in a warm form.

Diagnostics

If a child has an unpleasant odor (2 years old or more, it does not matter) they are taken to the dentist. If the doctor does not observe any pathology associated with the teeth, then it is necessary to contact an endocrinologist, gastroenterologist or otolaryngologist.

The baby is still too young to complain, but the smell is usually captured by the mother. When diagnosing, its nature is established - constant or periodic, the time of formation (morning or evening).

It is important for the doctor to find out where the smell comes from. It happens that the study and analyzes did not reveal any pathology. Perhaps this is an individual feature of the child, which can be found very rarely. In this case, you should more carefully monitor the oral hygiene.

How to get rid of the smell?

If a child has bad breath, you should take all measures to get rid of this symptom.

First of all, if a child has a bad breath (2.5 years old or more), it is necessary to show the pediatrician to determine the exact cause. Effective treatment is usually prescribed by a doctor; you should not treat the baby on your own.

Mom can do the following:

to normalize the composition of saliva, you need to create an appropriate microclimate in the children's room;
give your child more water;
constantly visit a doctor to check the condition of the oral cavity;
if the nose is blocked, then it is necessary to rinse it with saline solution.

To get rid of bad breath forever, you need to approach the solution of the problem in a comprehensive manner. The correct treatment is prescribed by a doctor, but parents must also follow separate recommendations.

If the child is 2 years old, and bad breath occurs, he should not eat a lot of sweets. It is best to give honey instead of sweets, which has bactericidal properties.

The kid needs to eat a lot of sour fruits. They cause increased salivation, significantly reduce odor.

Parents should maintain regular oral hygiene, which should begin at 6 months of age. For this, you can buy special soft brushes. When the child grows up, he will learn to brush his teeth himself. His parents should teach him how to properly clean his tongue and cheeks. Mothers can do this by example.

It is good to rinse your mouth before going to bed with decoctions of medicinal plants, which will help improve the microflora of the oral cavity and freshen your breath.

Conclusion

In the prevention of unpleasant odor in a child, it will be invaluable to follow the simple rules for caring for the oral cavity. Eating right, avoiding sweets and including fresh fruit is important. These guidelines will help to significantly reduce the chances of odors occurring. Sometimes this is not enough, so only a doctor can prescribe the correct treatment.

Bad breath in a child is a symptom, the cause of which must be found out. Bad breath - a norm or a pathology?

Why does a healthy child have a strange odor from the mouth? Let's consider the physiological reasons for this phenomenon:

eating strongly sweet, carbohydrate-containing foods or foods with a specific smell (onions, garlic);
drying out of the nasopharyngeal mucosa and saliva due to excessive physical activity, stress or after sleep;
the use of drugs that cause odor;
a small child can put something in his nose (for example, a piece of washcloth, rubber), which will lead to rotting of the object and the appearance of an odor;
hormonal changes during puberty, lack of vitamins, trace elements and iodine in the body.

The main causes of unpleasant odor

Consider the main causes of pathology:

lack of hygiene;
diseases of the oral cavity;
diseases of the ENT organs;
bronchial infections;
disease of the digestive system;
damage to the liver, kidneys;
diabetes.

Neglecting oral hygiene

The most common cause of morning odor is inadequate or inadequate oral hygiene of a child, or eating foods that cause a specific odor (such as garlic).

Diseases of the teeth and gums

Almost all diseases of the teeth and gums are accompanied by an unpleasant odor from the mouth:

caries;
gingivitis;
stomatitis;
periodontal disease;
tartar, etc.

Diseases of the nasopharynx
Bad breath will be observed in diseases of the ENT organs

Bad breath can be a consequence of a developing disease of the ENT organs. The main diseases causing pathology:

Acute, purulent or chronic tonsillitis (tonsillitis). As a result of the multiplication of bacteria in the nasopharynx, purulent plugs form on the glands, the tonsils become inflamed. A child with angina feels unwell, pain when swallowing, his temperature rises. Mucus with bacteria accumulates in the throat, which causes a putrid, sour smell.
Sinusitis, acute or chronic rhinitis also causes this unpleasant pathology. Purulent mucus flows down the back wall of the nasopharynx, stagnation of snot, pus occurs, so the child smells unpleasant.
Neoplasms and cysts in the throat. This pathology is the most dangerous, since the only symptom may be putrid breath. The disease is often asymptomatic.

Pulmonary infections

Diseases of the digestive system

When, when communicating with a child, relatives notice that his mouth smells sour or rotten, then most likely the baby has digestive problems.

Gastrointestinal diseases are also the cause of bad breath

The appearance of an unpleasant odor may indicate:

gastritis;
disruption of the stomach;
excessive secretion of gastric juice;
duodenal disease;
neoplasms and tumors in the digestive organs;
disruption of the valves in the stomach;
improper nutrition.

Liver disease

Liver disease is indicated by a sweetish or rotten odor, not only from the mouth. Over time, the skin of the baby begins to exude the same aroma.

Kidney disease

The baby's mouth may smell like urine or ammonia. This pathology is associated with:

improper diet;
taking medications;
kidney disease (pyelonephritis, stones, neoplasms).

Diabetes

To avoid bad breath in diabetes mellitus, you must adhere to a special diet

Does the appearance of the smell depend on the age of the child?

What is the treatment of pathology?

Prophylaxis
From an early age, it is necessary to instill in the child the habit of dental care

Most parents are in awe of the health of their children. Any deviation can cause concern for the baby. There are several reasons a child may have a specific odor from the mouth. In some cases, the help of a medical specialist is required.

Types of bad breath

Before you start to panic, you should pay attention to the peculiarities of the smell. This can be done on your own, without the involvement of a doctor.

Attention! Parents may notice that a strange smell has been added to a previously diagnosed viral illness. Pus, plaque, and a rapidly spreading infection provoke halitosis.

How to get rid of

Before making a choice in favor of any solution, it is necessary to trace the causes of the bad smell. Parents can eliminate some factors on their own. If the problem lies inside the body, then you need to seek the help of a doctor as soon as possible. With bad breath, they turn to a therapist and narrow specialists - a gastroenterologist, a dentist.

Food

An unpleasant smell can be caused not only by diseases of the internal organs. This symptom often accompanies caries. Dental problems are the result of a lack of calcium, excessive consumption of sweets, hereditary diseases.

Children love delicious and sweet food and do not understand that this can lead to health problems. But do not completely limit them in the use of sweets. It is necessary to replace industrial products with useful products: sweets - honey, baked goods - fruits and berries.

In some cases, fruits will be invaluable in helping to get rid of halitosis. Apples have useful properties in cleansing the oral cavity from impurities. They also make up for deficiencies in vitamins and iron in the body.

Know! The acidic environment in the mouth contributes to the formation of increased salivation, which, in turn, helps to quickly get rid of the unpleasant odor.

Diseases

The development of halitosis is directly affected by diseases of various systems:

ENT diseases. The structure and properties of saliva are influenced by the state of the upper respiratory tract. Pathological changes when bacteria enter are characterized by the appearance of plaque on the mucous membranes of the mouth, the formation of abscesses, and the release of an unpleasant odor. In a normal state, the microflora of the oral cavity eliminates pathogenic bacteria, during the period of illness, saliva turns into an environment favorable for the reproduction of pathogens.
SARS and colds. The immunity of young children is rather weak. When visiting kindergarten, they begin to get sick with sore throat, tonsillitis and pharyngitis. Viral stomatitis occurs no less often, which is characterized by thickening of saliva, inflammation and swelling of the gums, the formation of erosions and ulcers. Stomatitis is a symptom of measles and herpangina.
Respiratory system pathologies. A putrid or purulent odor accompanies lung diseases - abscess or pneumonia, bronchiectasis, bronchitis. A strong cough with phlegm, febrile body temperature, and loss of strength are added to the unpleasant odor.

The popular pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky claims that bad breath in a child can occur due to purulent diseases. These include:

sinusitis;
sore throat;
sinusitis.

Important! A common runny nose makes it difficult for the baby to breathe through the nose. Due to the fact that the mouth is constantly open, saliva dries up, and pathogenic bacteria begin to multiply actively. Lack of moisture is also cited as one of the causes of foul-smelling breath.

Gastrointestinal problems

In young children, regurgitation often occurs, in schoolchildren from 8 years of age and older - belching and heartburn. All this may indicate the wrong food intake or the use of unhealthy foods. Such signs may be accompanied by bloating, flatulence. Dysbiosis is often observed in children.

If the problem lies in the imperfection of the sphincter, then the liquid thrown into the esophagus provokes increased acidity. There is a burning sensation in the mouth, bitterness, vomiting may occur. The baby's breath becomes sour.

Komarovsky says that a baby in a year or two cannot have an unpleasant odor due to the reverse reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus. The main thing that can affect the shade of breath is the food you eat.

Attention! Onions, garlic or corn will definitely leave a scent in a child aged 2 to 5 years, which will disappear on its own after a while. Therefore, in such situations, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

If there is a pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, the first sign, in addition to an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity, will be a dark plaque on the teeth. In this case, a gastroenterologist will help to avoid the development of complications.

Compliance with the rules of hygiene

Children from 6 years of age are advised to use electric toothbrushes. They clean the oral cavity well, and you do not need to make a lot of effort to use the devices. Such devices are to the liking of almost every child.
It is necessary to teach the child to rinse the mouth after each meal. To avoid negative reactions and opposition from your baby, mouthwash can be purchased in a variety of flavors. It will also be useful to rinse your mouth before going to bed with decoctions of medicinal herbs - chamomile or sage.
After 10 years, the child can floss. This procedure does not take much time, and simple actions help to eliminate food debris on the teeth.
Many children from 7 years old use chewing gum, which is advertised all over the place. It is worth dissuading the student from the veracity of the advertisement. Chewing gum eliminates bad breath for a short time.

Proper oral care and increased attention to the health of their own child will help parents avoid many problems. In addition, the correct regime will bring up independence, accuracy and consistency in the little one. In the future, parents will be able to relax - a child who is trained in basic hygiene rules is less susceptible to pathogenic organisms than his peers.

Usually children smell very nice, especially their own - any parent will tell you this. But it often happens that suddenly, in the absence of any obvious illness, an unpleasant, pungent odor begins to be felt from the child's mouth. Why is this happening? And does this smell from the baby's mouth indicate the development of some kind of serious infection? And the main thing that parents care about is how to get rid of such a problem?

A sharp bad breath, including in a child, in the language of medical terms is called halitosis (or halitosis). Alas, it can be observed in children of any age (sometimes even in infants), and, accordingly, cause a "bouquet" of feelings and anxieties in parents. What if a really sharp nasty smell from a child's mouth is a sign of a serious illness?

Causes of bad breath in a child

Where does bad breath come from? Doctors have found out that the main "producers" of the unbearable ammonia-sulfur "amber" are special bacteria, the very essence of their existence is to break down the proteins we get from food.

Moreover, this act of splitting occurs in us, people, both adults and small, already directly in the mouth. Actually, this is the first step towards the long digestive tract. In the process of splitting, some sulfur-containing compounds are inevitably formed, which, in fact, exude an eerie odor.

However, nature foresaw this moment and added a special component to human saliva (namely, a specific type of streptococcus), which, in theory, should neutralize the intolerable "odor" of sulfur. But in practice, there are plenty of examples when this does not happen. Typically for two reasons:

Either there is too little saliva in the mouth;
Or there are too many bacteria in the mouth that break down proteins (and too many of them become when they have something to eat - that is, when food debris or dried mucus constantly accumulates in the mouth).

In adults, there may also be a third explanation - there is enough saliva in the mouth, but the same "sanitary" streptococcus is absent in it. However, this reason for bad breath has nothing to do with children - their saliva always has a "correct" composition.

So, the problem of bad smell is always related to saliva. And attempts to "tie" a child's halitosis to problems with the stomach, gallbladder or intestines are completely unfounded. The problem of bad smell in the mouth concerns only the oral (well, sometimes also the nasal) cavity and is exclusively limited to it.

Factors that contribute to the appearance of an unpleasant odor in a child:

Dry air in the room where the child lives;
The child actively moves and sweats a lot (which also contributes to a dry mouth);
Any (during any cold or the airways dry up and an excess amount of mucus is formed in them - on the one hand, these are additional proteins for bacteria, during the breakdown of which sulfur compounds are formed, on the other, an obstacle to the "work" of salivary streptococcus);
Any chronic inflammation in the airways (be it, or, or);
Bad teeth with signs of caries or periodontal disease;
(in which there is also an accumulation of excess mucus from the nasal and oral cavities);

Baby's breath: a symptom of a disease or the wrong menu?

In reality - neither one nor the other! The smell from the mouth has nothing to do with digestion, or with any infections, and indeed with anything other than the state of the oral mucosa.

So, in almost 100% of cases, when a child has a bad breath (up to 13-14 years old), this has nothing to do with any serious illness. Moreover, this phenomenon has nothing to do with any other area of the child's body, except for the oral and nasal cavity. Parents, do not be alarmed: no matter how harshly and badly a child suddenly smelled from his mouth, everything is still fine with the gastrointestinal system. The reason for "amber" should be sought exclusively in the mouth, or in extreme cases - in the nose.

So if you went to the doctor with the problem of bad breath in a child's mouth, and he prescribed you a "bouquet" of tests (demanding to examine the feces, urine, blood - whatever), this doctor, to put it mildly, is mistaken. Everything that is "produced" by the body below the level of the mouth, in this case, it is completely meaningless to study.

It is only necessary to find out one thing - why does the baby develop bacteria, which should normally be suppressed by the components of saliva? Perhaps not enough saliva ... Or perhaps too many bacteria (for example, if the teeth are rotten). It is also possible that the child's adenoids are inflamed - mucus accumulates on them and, undergoing the process of decay, is a source of an unpleasant odor.

How to eliminate bad breath from a child

To eliminate bad breath from a child, two main problems need to be addressed: eliminate dental problems (if any) and restore salivation. To do this, do the following:

periodically give the child to drink water with lemon;
organize a humid climate in the room (air humidity should be within 60-70%);
check the condition of the teeth at the dentist;
if the nose is not breathing, rinse the nose with saline (and do this several times during the day);
check the condition of the child's adenoids with an otorhinolaryngologist;

So, by and large, contrary to the popular belief of parents, bad or pungent breath from a child is not a medical problem - there is nothing special to treat. The only thing that should be done is to check the condition of the baby's teeth and tongue (whether food debris accumulates there), check if there is an inflammatory process in the throat, and finally find out if the baby's nose is breathing normally.

If the baby is in complete order on all these points, then the humid climate in the house will definitely help to solve the problem of bad breath, which will restore the correct salivation in the child and prevent the mucous membrane from drying out. That, in fact, is all the wisdom of fighting an unpleasant smell!

Each mother is sensitive to the health of her child, so any changes in his condition cause her anxiety. And one of these changes in the child's body is the appearance of bad breath.

Causes of bad breath in children

Normally, a large number of various microbes are present in the oral cavity. Some of them are called conditionally pathogenic, i.e. not causing the development of the disease in a healthy body. The second part is non-pathogenic, which does not cause the development of pathology under any conditions. Both are in balance with each other. However, various factors such as stress, starvation, fatigue, hypothermia, frequent colds, various disorders in the immune system, medication are the cause of this imbalance. And then the conditionally pathogenic flora begins to activate and causes the development of changes in the oral cavity.

Normally, babies who are breastfed should smell like milk from the mouth. at this age, lactic bacteria are actively working in the body, which suppress the development of harmful microflora. Older children also should not have any bad or specific breath odor, and when it suddenly appears, you need to analyze the situation and try to understand why this is happening.

If your child does not suffer from any chronic diseases, do not rush to sound the alarm. Even healthy children may periodically experience altered breathing. This is due to the following reasons:
- eating food of a certain nature with a strong odor (garlic, onion, radish, some juices, cabbage). Often this smell accompanies the child the next day;
- improper, unbalanced diet. The consumption of a large amount of protein foods contributes to putrefactive processes, because it takes a long time to digest in the stomach. Abuse of large amounts of carbohydrates (fruits, grapes, legumes) leads to fermentation processes in the gastrointestinal tract;
- hard cheese, when digested, causes the formation of sulfur compounds, which are released with exhaled air;
- excitement, emotional stress cause a decrease in salivation and the appearance of an unpleasant odor;
- the reluctance of the child to brush his teeth well and regularly;
- the formation of plaque, which occurs when food particles are retained in the folds of the mucous membrane of the tongue and tonsils, and as a result, the development of putrefactive microbes;
- sugary food causes the growth of bacteria in the oral cavity, which have a specific odor.

How to get rid of bad breath

If desired by the parents and the child, these factors can be easily eliminated. To do this, you need to exclude or reduce the consumption of sweets. If you are not allergic to bee products, it is useful to use honey instead of sugar. In parallel, you need to give your child more vegetables and fruits. Apples and carrots are especially good, they cleanse the mucous membrane of the tongue and gums, increase salivation.

Oral care is essential to keep your breath fresh. You need to brush your teeth and tongue at least 2 times a day, and preferably after each meal. During the day, rinse your mouth after eating with boiled water or infusions of medicinal herbs (chamomile, calendula). Teach your child to use dental floss, which cleans the interdental spaces well. Allow older children to use a special, alcohol-free mouthwash. Suggest drinking more fluids during times of severe anxiety. Such recommendations will allow you to rid your child of the bad smell within a few days.

Diseases with bad breath

If all the conditions are met, and bad breath still persists, you need to consult a doctor to look for more serious reasons. To do this, you should determine and be able to describe to the doctor the characteristics of the smell, its similarity with a certain substance. This will help the doctor guess which system of the body is malfunctioning. For example, for some diseases, specific symptoms are characteristic:

The smell of rotten eggs from the mouth with inflammation of the stomach, peptic ulcer
sour smell when the contents of the stomach are thrown into the esophagus, with increased acidity of the stomach
putrid odor in diseases of the esophagus and inflammation of the stomach with low acidity
the smell of acetone in diabetic patients
smell of ammonia in children with kidney disease
the sweetish smell of raw liver in liver disease
the smell of boiled cabbage or manure in children with hereditary metabolic diseases

If we talk about the causes of pathological odor from the mouth, then there are many others.

This can be facilitated by the presence of adenoid vegetations in a child - growths of lymphoid tissue in the nasopharynx and its chronic inflammation. Mucus accumulates on their surface, which has an unpleasant purulent odor. Enlarged adenoids prevent the free passage of air into the respiratory tract through the nose, so the child begins to breathe through the mouth. The mucous membrane of the oropharynx dries out easily, and then is injured.

Postponed or current diseases of the throat and oral cavity (tonsillitis, stomatitis, pharyngitis), as well as acute and chronic diseases of the respiratory tract are accompanied by an unpleasant odor.

Dental caries, inflammation of the gums, and the oral cavity of a fungal nature are often the cause of altered breathing. Normally, a fungus of the genus Candida is present on the mucous membranes of the human body, which, under certain conditions, causes inflammation of the mucous membrane. This also happens in the oral cavity. A white coating appears on the lips, gums, tongue, which has a specific odor and contributes to unpleasant sensations.

There are several other causes of bad breath:

To find out the cause of bad breath, first of all, you should contact the pediatrician, who will talk with the mother and the child, carefully examine the second and draw up an examination plan, during which the presence of this or that pathology in the child will be revealed. The examination should include a study of blood tests, urine, feces, ultrasound of internal organs, consultations of narrow specialists.

Doctor pediatrician Sytnik S.V.