Perfume and pregnancy

We have already talked of how unique and primal the sense of smell is. But if there’s a time in life where the particularities of smell are wilder than ever that’s during pregnancy.

While pregnant, most women experience a greater sensibility to smell, to the point, in some cases, of aversion, especially when related to food. In fact, is common to link the famous morning sickness with olfactory hypersensitivity. It can be so extreme that those smells are registered by the olfactory memory and can cause dizziness and nausea after the pregnancy.

This increase of smell sensibility during the pregnancy is caused by the hormonal changes caused by the woman’s body. Several studies proof that the estrogens fluctuation affects specially during the first trimester and decreases when the due date approaches. It goes back to normal levels after the baby is born.

Truth is regardless of this extra sensibility of smell, a lot of pregnant women state that their perfume has a different smell during pregnancy. That change is caused by hormones (again) and the increase of the body temperature as well as weight. All of it makes women sweat more and affect their own perception of perfume on the skin. Food can also play a part on this since habits change during pregnancy because of this love/hate relationship with some food.

Because of all the mentioned above a lot of women stop using perfume during their pregnancy even after giving birth so it doesn’t interfere with their natural scent, so important for the newborn. For babies the smell sense is key in their discovery of the world.

Once more the olfactory territory is a mystery deeply rooted to our animal side and instincts. There’s still a lot to discover about the smell, the same happens to pregnancy, a natural process, as magic as surprising.

Perfumes & Emotions

Perfume and pregnancy

We have already talked of how unique and primal the sense of smell is. But if there’s a time in life where the particularities of smell are wilder than ever that’s during pregnancy.

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