bad sinus odor

Hello,  I have a 34 month old daughter I adopted from China 9 months ago who was born with a cleft lip and palate.  Her lip was post surgery when we received her and we had her palate repaired in Jan. 2005.  She has this terrible odor when she breathes through her nose its not her breath.  It smells so bad it is like something dead up in her nose.  We try irragation with nose spray and even cleaning with Q tips dipped in  mouth wash.  I thought it would go away after her palate surgery. Our bio daughter was born with a cleft lip and palate and she has never had anything like this. Help I'm at my wits end.  The Dr. tells me keep sraying the nose spray.  She is so cute but she smells so bad.

[National Jewish]

The most common reason for this is inflammation in one or more of the sinuses, which may or may not be due to an infection.  This is not an uncommon problem with children having a cleft lip and palate. A CT scan of the sinuses is a relatively simple procedure, even in young children.  I would suggest discussing this with her physician.