7yo daughter's BO

Hi, 

I am in the same boat with my 7 year old. She just turned 7 in January. I too was freaked out and emailed her doctor who told me that it is common and asked all the time. She let me know that she was able to use deodorant as long as it wasn’t an antiperspirant. We sometimes also do baby powder which helps too. I got her a Toms natural deodorant and have her use it on really hot or active days. She is not always stinky but definitely on a hot day or active day I will smell it. Hope to hear more from others. 

My first thought is that she is probably getting close to puberty- this is when my kids started having noticeable body odor. 

My second thought- perhaps her clothing is not "breathing? " have a few shirts that seem to cause me to smell and I am sure it is the material.

Ha!  This happened with my girl too- a month after she turned 8!  I too was freaked out but my pediatrician said she will need to wash (with soap) under her arms more frequently and start using a deodorant (and that it was not a sign of early puberty necessarily).  We went to Pharmica and got a natural one that she liked the smell of (it took 3 kinds to find one that worked for her).  On top of regular bath/showers she checks her underarms in the morning and if she is stinky she will wipe herself down with a washcloth and soap before putting on deodorant (or beg me to do it if it is cold).  She doesn't like doing this and will fib sometimes if I ask her if she did it.  She is now 9 1/2 and last week at camp there was a girl who had underarm bo and she was reinvigorated to remember.  She does not want to be that girl!  

Hello,

Ask your pediatrician if it could be her adrenal glands or andronarchy (sp?). I don't know if it is something to be concerned with but its good to alert your pediatrician and be monitored. Good Luck.

First, make sure she is properly washing armpits during bath/shower time.

Second, get her a stick of Schmidt’s deodorant. It is the ONLY “hippy”/natural deodorant that has ever worked for me and I will never use anything else again.  Don’t give her anything with aluminum (the standard antiperspirants). Schmidt’s makes unscented, which may be best for a kid, my fave is rose and vanilla though. You can find it at Berkeley Bowl or Whole Foods for ~$8.

To deal with BO, make sure she is wearing cotton tops. Try using cornstarch as a deodorant. Sometimes simple things work best. To lengthen the time to menarche, you can try several things. To reduce the amount of hormones in food, buy organic meat and milk. To reduce the amount of hormones in personal care products, make sure that they are fragrance-free and phthalate-free. To reduce to exposure to artificial light, enforce bedtimes, get rid of nightlights, and get blackout curtains for the bedroom. 

My daughter's left armpit started to produce BO at 9 months old! We bought natural deodorant powder initially. Now at 5, she uses any variety of non-aluminum based deodorants (as do I--my personal fav is Soapwalla deodorant cream and currently she's using Lavanila). In addition to washing under her arms, we occasionally swipe a cotton ball with apple cider vinegar to address the bacteria that causes the odor. 

I second the June 19 suggestion of Schmidt's stick deodorant - it's absolutely the only natural ingredient I've found to work after trying just about everything out there.  However, since my family started using Purely Northwest Tea Tree Oil Foot & Bodywash, we go can go days without deodorant. I was very skeptical of the over-the-top glowing reviews of the Tea Tree Oil Bodywash on Amazon, but we've been using it to wash our underarms, and the stink is gone. Using the body wash while bathing and Schmidt's in the morning has done the trick for us and I hope one or both work for your daughter!