Body Odor in a 6 year old?

[beanandpumpkin]

My son will be 7 in January. We live in Florida, and he's outside playing in the hot sun just about every day. By the end of the day he has a body-odor smell... like armpit body odor. Could this be normal? For a 6 year old???

My mother says that boys get that smell earlier than girls, but I don't think I had body odor until I was at least 10 or 11... Six seems so young to me! For now, I'm not about to give him any sort of deoderant... are there any more natural solutions?

[Hesperia]

Wash his little pits with some baking soda in the evening. And use a 'crystal' deodorant, which is all natural. Make sure he is wearing good breathable clothing.

http://www.thecrystal.com/

[gassadi]

We're in Florida too and my 8 year old gets kind of funky after he runs around all day. Fortunately, he likes taking a quick shower. Unfortunately, he likes using all the soap, water, towels, etc.

[pigpokey]

Have you read about precocious puberty?

[moonshoes]

I noticed it in my 6 y.o. DD last week! I just scrubbed her armpits with a washcloth and it took care of it.

[onlyzombiecat]

My dd is 7 and brought her arm pit odor to my attention. Somewhere in this forum I have a thread about it.
To my knowledge it started recently and others have told me that their children that age have BO too so I don't think 6 or 7 is out of the ordinary these days.
I'm having dd wash more frequently with special attention to her arm pits and we got a crystal deodorant thing for her to use if she feels she needs to.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by onlyzombiecat

To my knowledge it started recently and others have told me that their children that age have BO too so I don't think 6 or 7 is out of the ordinary these days.

Interesting..."these days". I wonder whether it's really a secular trend, and if so, what's causing it. I laughed at Philip Davis (BertSherm)'s Fun 'n' Fresh underarm deodorant for children ca. 1990, but maybe he was on to something.

Robert

[alliteration]

Not to be alarmist, since I can't smell your child I could be off base, but sometimes an adult body odor in a child is a sign of an hormone or endocrine imbalance.
Next appointment mention it to your health care provider.

[kewb]

My son has gotten what my dh calls "boy funk" since he was around 6. He says all boys get boy funk by the end of the day from playing outside. Is it a really stong odor is is more of a "Hmmm, I can tell you've been running around all day" kind of odor?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by kewb

My son has gotten what my dh calls "boy funk" since he was around 6. He says all boys get boy funk by the end of the day from playing outside. Is it a really stong odor is is more of a "Hmmm, I can tell you've been running around all day" kind of odor?

It may be the type of androgen catabolite that some people's sense of smell can detect and others can't. I've never noticed it, and my parents never remarked about it with me, so I assume either our family's noses weren't sensitive to it, or we didn't produce it.

Robert