Child with bad breath problem

[meganfynn]

Hi Shelley!

Please can you help me with this problem: my daughter has a continuosly bad breath especially in the morning and of course if she hasn't been eating. Her tonsils has been removed whe she was 2-years-old. She still seems to breath mostly via her mouth and not nose and it seems nose is blocked all the time a wee bit. I have been thinking she might have post nasal drip but why? Cannot figure out anything which would create that.

She doesn't have any allergies and she is hardly ever sick and she was just in a test done by dentist which showed she doesnt have any caries, infact her mouth hygienia is really good according to that dentist.

She eats dairy products and quite normal food in general, hardly ever fizzy drinks or candies.

Where do you think this bad breath originates from? Am really desperate for her cos am afraid they start to tease her at school and am quite sure somebody has already said something to her cos this subject is sensitive to her.

I just bought her Danone drinks which have good bacteria and then am urging her to drink more. But the problem is that cos she is a child so many of those foods mentioned in bowel management and cleansing are a total yukkie and no-no for her...

Anyway, am grateful of any help, this is really big worry for me!

[shelley]

Hi Megan!

Bad breath rarely has anything to do with one's personal hygiene or dental health. Sometimes you can tell from the smell what's going on if it's linked to say, a spicy-garlicky diet, but if that's the case usually the skin itself smells too, not just the breath. If it's just the breath and only the breath, then foods are not digesting completely and are not passing through fast enough.

So you're going to have to some thorough research into your daughter's digestive health. Having her eat probiotic-rich foods is a good start, kids don't need much, a little usually goes a long way. One Activa once a week should be all that is needed for maintenance. Twice a week whenever symptomatic.

Ask her if she ever gets diarrhea, and if she's having a BM at least once a day. The diarrhea is important because if she is, then she has a food intolerance. Food intolerances can get very smelly, they don't always present as flatulence, particulary in youngsters.

Ask her if ice cream or milk ever give her stomach aches, diarrhea, or runny nose immediately after consuming. That's the most common food intolerance, lactose intolerance. Anyone with genetics from Turkey to the Middle-East tend to be lactose intolerant.

Whenever there are issues of mucus I recommend that parents only ever give their children cooked or fermented dairy at most, and never regular homogonized milk or ice cream except as a special treat or easy cure for constipation. Make up the calcium deficiency with judicious supplementation. When the sinuses clear up and stay clear for at least a week at a time, then a bit of a cheat is okay. Have her take digestive enzymes whenever she eats dairy.

If it's something other than milk you'll have to put on your detective cap and get to sleuthing!

As for cleansing out the smell, will she eat salads? A combination of any of the cleansing salads, cleansing pasta, Kichadi (use less garlic), and spoonfuls of Liquid Chlorophyll (or you can get a pill form of chlorophyll) should get rid of the halitosis in no time at all. It could be that all you need is the chlorophyll, a dose before bed, say. It's one of the safest super-foods. Also okay is activated charcoal and Bean-o.

Hope that helps!

[meganfynn]

Hi Shelley,

And thanks for a quick reply!

Will try to leave dairy out of her diet and give pro-biotics...as for the other things I think she would eat cleansing salad without ACV but kichadi would be most likely too exotic (yes, she is used to Scandinavian diet in where salt and pepper are only spices and no lentils, beans etc

I know that she does one BM a day and they aren't usually smelly although can be quite loose. But her urine can be very smelly and weirdly also her head, I mean hair area!?

As for the bad breath, I would describe that as a fart like smell, in fact once we where in a car and a person next to her thought our baby had "thing" in a nappy but it was my daughter whose breath she was smelling. So you see why this is such a worry to me...

Can't get chlorophyll in this country but do you think Chlorella would do the same trick?

Thanks again for your reply Shelley and am really grateful of this website, its great!

[shelley]

Chlorella is very high in chlorophyll, so that should work provided she can digest it. Loose stools are indicative of food intolerances (or parasites) so definitely figure out which foods she cannot digest. Cut out all milk except for very small servings of kefir for awhile and see if things get better. Cheese should also be avoided at first. Eggs are probably okay, as is European style butter (fermented/cultured) or Ghee.

She may also be having trouble digesting protein. Youngsters rarely have problems with stomach acid levels, but some do, this would be indicated if there's an iron deficiency (provided the diet has plenty of iron-rich foods), which can be easily tested. But more common (and quite often undiagnosed) is celiac disease, an intolerance for gluten proteins, which are found in wheat breads. I'd bet on celiac disease because for the smell to be so prevelant she must have a lot of leaky gut going on too, and probably is not drinking enough fluids either.

So you may want to avoid gluten grains (Google for list) for awhile, make sure she's adequately hydrated each day, and see how she does with that. There are still lots of safe things to eat - kids usually like sweet potatoes and quinoa.

Hope that helps!

[meganfynn]

Thanks Shelley really lot for your time and advice! I have been thinking of that celiac disease myself too and actually there is a home test you can buy from a pharmacy to test whether you have that disease or not...think I will buy it.

Will keep you posted how we are doing...have a good weekend!

Megan

[AgnesT]

In my experience, a poopy smell to the breath is caused by a lack of good bacteria in the bowels. My daughter and I both get that if our friendlies get out of whack. Making sure she takes a probiotic capsule every day or so keeps it in check. So I think you are on the right track there.

[shelley]

Thanks for sharing that, Agnes!