quick clicks

pregnancy today articles

pregnancy today q&a

message boards

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Scent of a (Pregnant) Woman

Does Pregnancy Affect
Your Sense of Smell?

By Teri Brown

One of the many possible symptoms of pregnancy, along with swollen ankles, backaches and morning sickness, is an increased sense of smell. Some women have such a strong sense of smell they liken it to a bloodhound on the hunt.

Crystal Forkan from Tampa Bay, Fla., says that for her, a strong sense of smell was one of the first signs of pregnancy. "I think that I noticed a heightened sense of smell very early in my pregnancies," she says. "Basically, if the smell was strong or a little more than neutral, I started heaving and gagging. Even some of the things I normally didn't mind smelling made me queasy."

Christina Friedrichsen-Truman from Windsor, Canada, noticed that some smells would send her running for the bathroom while others were almost intoxicating. "If my husband ate even the tiniest bit of onions or garlic, I wouldn't let him come near me," she says. "But my heightened sense of smell wasn't always a bad thing. For some bizarre reason I would walk into any Canadian Tire store and love the smell of the place. It smelled like rubber and for some reason, I loved that smell. I also loved the synthetic smell of dollar stores and the scent of gasoline."

Margaret Buxton, a certified nurse midwife and an advanced practice registered nurse for West End Women's Health Center of Vanderbilt University's Medical Center, says that while science may not completely understand a woman's heightened sense of smell during pregnancy, many women definitely do.

"Evidence suggests that there is a heightened sense of smell in pregnancy, although scientific studies are inconclusive," Buxton says. "And there is definitely a relationship between heightened sense of smell and food aversions."

Dr. Christine Vergara, an OB/GYN for the Weinberg Center for Women's Health at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., says there have been many theories about why a woman's sense of smell might increase during pregnancy.

"Many patients have complained about an increased sensitivity to smells during early pregnancy," Dr. Vergara says. "Studies performed in the '80s were thought to show a higher olfactory acuity in women who were pregnant or ovulating. This was thought to be related to estradiol levels, which are increased during those times. More recent studies seem to indicate that this effect may be mostly cognitive, or related specifically to a person's genetic tendency toward chemical sensitivities."

Want to see more?

• Food Facts, Cravings
  and Cautions: The Formula for a Healthy Diet During Pregnancy
• Morning Sickness: Causes and Cures
• Nutrition Is Key: Prevent Complications and Give Birth to a Healthy Baby
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.