It is very normal for kids to sweat, so it is when they start getting a little smelly on their clothes and body. This happens usually from being physically active all day.
Kids usually have mild body smells, but sometimes it could get as bad as an adult’s.
You can easily fight this mild body smells from proper hygiene, but at other times, when it is bad, medical attention is needed.
Sweat that bacteria has acted upon, causes body odour.
Symptoms of Body Odour in Kids
Though smell is the primary symptom of odour, there are some other symptoms in children that show signs of body odour, they include.
Excessive sweating, night sweats, cold hands and weight loss.
These symptoms are common when the endocrine system, a collection of hormone-producing glands, is affected by an infection or other condition. In case of body odor caused by severe medical conditions, you may notice symptoms such as pain in the chest, problems with vision, shortness of breath.
Causes of Body Odour in Children
Poor Hygiene
This is the most common cause of body odour. When a child is not bathed properly and regularly, when they let bacteria gather around the armpit regions, they tend to get smelly.
Food Habits
what ever you take in, shows on your body. The food that children affects both their body and breath. Foods like garlic, onions and other bacteria friendly foods like sweets after digested, seeps through their skins to cause body odour if they don’t have proper hygiene.
Foods like red meat, milk, processed foods made from flour, foods like fish, eggs etc. cause odour both in adults and children.
Adrenarche
This term is used to refer to kids who attain sexual maturity too early. This happens due to excess production of certain hormones like DHEA. adrenarche is one of the early signs of puberty and results in physical changes like the emergence of pubic hair, underarm hair and change in body odour.
Puberty
This is the attainment of sexual maturity. Girls normally reach puberty at age 10 and 11, for boys, it is between 12 and 14. A lot of hormonal changes take place that lead to development of certain body parts and behaviour. One of those changes include, body odour. At this stage, this is not a huge problem, but personal hygiene should become a priority.
Tips to Prevent Body Odour in Kids
Personal hygiene is the number cure for body odour in kids and adults. We should teach our kids to take proper care of themselves and also help them to be clean.
We should make our kids wash their bodies everyday and properly too, they should wash their armpits, groins and feet thoroughly.
Wearing clean clothes should be a habit for them everyday. We should make sure as much as possible, they avoid wearing thick clothes like jeans, and staying in bed for too long after they wake up.
Drinking plenty of water should be encouraged amongst kids. It helps washed bad toxins out of our bodies and reduces body odour.
If these simple tips don’t hep, seek medical assistance.
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