My hubbie and I have both noticed that or dd's (7 yrs) urine STINKS. If she has to use the potty chair in the mini-van in an emergency - we are both gagging until she gets off the pot and we can add some Fresh Step kitty litter. She has never had a urinary tract infection.
Also, her room has such a strange odor to it. I have never smelled it before and I am a nurse, so I have smelled a lot of strange things. It's a musky, bitter smell.
We adopted her at 4 yrs from an eastern european orphange, so first attributed it to a lingering orphanage and/or foreign odor, but it hasn't gone away. Then, there was a lot of bed wetting so we thought that was the issue. But now, the bedwetting is almost non-existent, but this odor is still there.
Since she is very active, she gets a bath almost every day. I tried going every other day in the winter to help with dry skin, but the odor became so strong we switched back. We also have to change her sheets at least once a week. Interestingly enough, we rarely smell this odor on her, just in her room. Sometimes the odor is so strong, we smell it as we walk by the stairs going up to her room.
Anyone else have this problem? I worry that she has some strange metabolic problem.
Is she dehydrated? That can cause urine to smell strongly.
Don't know about the room though, unless she's tossed a wet pair of undies (from an accident she didn't want to tell you about maybe?) behind the bed. That happened with my son several times when he was getting older, like 6 or 7 and he was finally starting to outgrow the bedwetting thing. He'd start to go, wake up and use the bathroom, but not want to tell us that the underwear was wet, so he's just throw it wherever in his room.
lodismom,
Doe your dtr drink a lot? Is she tired? Have you thought about ruling out diabetes? It can cause one to have a 'funky' odor. Just a thought.
Sounds like you should ask your pediatrician. Sometimes children can get b.o. because they are starting puberty early. I'd have it checked out. Maybe get her some deodorant, also. I've actually heard of 6-7 year olds who have to wear deodorant.I know urine smells stronger when you're dehydrated. Is that a possibility? Remember that caffeine is a diuretic, so drinking something caffeinated is worse than not drinking at all.Hmmm I dunno but I would talk to her doctor about it!Hmm - could be a dehydration issue - i hadn't thought of that. She does complain about being thirsty a lot - less so now that she is on the meds, but at the same time is picky about what she drinks - only water or lemonade are ever requested when we offer her a choice.
She does sweat A LOT. When she and friends are outside playing on a hot day, she is definitely the sweatiest one when she comes inside, so maybe she needs more water than the average child.
I know it is not diabetes - I am a diabetes nurse clinician. It's not B.O - this is definitely a different smell and actually not that unpleasant. Also i don't think early puberty as she has had this smell since we got her at age 4.
I also know not urine gone bad. Hubbie and I learned REAL quick not to pick up underwear off the floor and do a sniff test to see if clean or dirty - when it doubt it is thrown in the hamper now! This is definitely not that smell!
I'll try more water and if that doesn't help, ask the pediatrician.
Thanks!
Another thought is yeast? Quite commom for little girls to develop a yeast infection. Maybe not her urine, but that is when you notice the smell? My thought would be to see the pediatricain no matter what.I know that adopted kids for some reason seem to have more wetting issues. Both of my adopted sons wet the bed. Some kids might be inclined to hide it. What is the intestinal thing that is rampant in orphanages? Is it Guarida. Probably not spelled correctly. Both of my boys had urinary infections in their histories. I wonder about a kidney or urinary low grade infection.
Thanks - I have not checked out that website in awhile, but will. She did have a lot of bedwetting. so much so that we had a urology consult but they coudn't find much. They chalked it up to poor potty training. She was old enough to tell us she got spanked HARD if she wet the bed in the orphanage. The bed wetting has stopped - yeah!! but still this unique order persists.....
We had a never event that is making me think there is something to my high metabolism theory. She and DH went camping with a group. He mentioned he was noticing she was the sweatiest kid there when she all of a sudden sat down and started crying. He got her in the shade and gave her a quart of water. After about 20 minutes she was good to go.....Maybe the 2 are related
We went to court in T'bilisi, Georgia almost 3 years ago. We also adopted a 13 month old at the same time. SO far, no ADHD suspected with her.