My 4 Month Old Has Really Bad Breath

Call the Dr. Usually really bad breath could mean intestinal infections or virus.

1 mom found this helpful

I agree with Lilly's response. My friend experienced this with her baby years ago and it was an infection or strep throat or something. Definitely talk to his ped when you go on 2/5.

Good luck!

I have not experienced this, but I don't think that you would need to take him to the doctor early for bad breath. It's probably related to the reflux (lot of burping and spitting). I would just bring it up at his next appointment.

I have no experience with this either, but I'd say it warrants a call to his doc. Babies just as a general rule don't have bad breath, even after spitting up.

does it smell like infected band-aids or breath after surgery, or like the city dump? Maybe an infection in the intestinal track, or stomach. I would call the DR. if the smell makes you gag. I would also recommend water before bedtime instead of milk.

The sour milk description kind of rang a bell for me. Are you sure it's his breath and not the folds of his neck? My daughter was very chubby at that age and when she would nurse, the milk would dripple from her mouth down to her neck and under her chin. She had a short neck at the time and her chin kind of rested on it. Milk would get trapped there and start to smell sour. It was an eye opener once I discovered what was going on! ;]

Hi E.,

When sour breath becomes chronic, there is almost always a "stomach heat" condition (this is a Chinese medical term0, and there is something out of balance in the GI tract, usually in the stomach but potentially related to pancreas, liver, or intestines. Prevacid is suppressive but doesn't address the underlying conditions. He might not have the native enzymes to digest formula well. Instead of Prevacid, which just masks the symptoms, consider supplementing with enzymes or probiotics.

This has been happening to my 5 month old as well and he is also on reflux meds (prilosec)... His bad breath comes and goes. I just assumed it was related to the medicine and his spitting up. It is not related to the folds of his neck as the other mom mentioned. He is kept very clean! :)
...And he is not sick. Since it has only been two days for you, it could go away like it did for my baby. But, sometimes it will come back for a day or so. My baby is formula-fed only so it prob has nothing to do with your breastmilk. My Dr said as long as it is not a chronic condition then it is nothing serious. Look up Baby bad breath on the internet and it will tell you signs to look for when it is something more serious. Otherwise it is relatively normal and nothing to be worried about.