My daughter and her twin brother is 2 years and 3 months. She has terrible breath despite us brushing teeth regularly. Her brother does not seem to have it. What could be the cause of this?

There are several different reasons why a small child would have bad breath.

The first and simplest would be that your little girl produces less saliva than the boy whilst asleep. When a person sleeps, the saliva production naturally decreases and this can allow some bacteria to grow in the mouth. If this is the case, the problem will be especially apparent after a sleep or even a short nap. A gentle tooth brush or mouth wash before a sleep could solve this problem.

Occasionally a beloved toy can be the culprit that causes bad breath. Any toy that is regularly sucked or licked by a child can develop bacterial growth - which can then cause the baby's mouth to smell badly. If your child has a favourite blanket or soft toy that gets saliva on it, try increasing the amount of washing that this object undergoes, and see if that helps.

It is fairly unusual to have bad breathe in a small child so it may be worth a trip to the doctor to eliminate health causes such as a mouth, sinus or throat infection. It is also possible that baby has pushed an object up her nose and this is causing a smell, and the doctor would detect that. The other thing to check up on is tooth decay.

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