Pregnancy really does seem to affect every part of your body, and that includes your nose. This can be especially difficult for women with morning sickness—and that accounts for about three-quarters of pregnant women. Morning sickness might wear off, but your overly sensitive nose could be a problem for a significant portion of your pregnancy. Here’s a look at why it happens and what to do about it.
Heightened Senses
The sudden ability to smell bacon cooking from six miles away can seem uncanny, especially when it happens before you even know you are pregnant. Overactive olfactory (the sensation of smell) glands can kick in very early in the first trimester; in fact, they’re often one of the first signs of pregnancy. Why does this happen? Well, like virtually every other weird thing that happens when you’re pregnant, it’s hormones. Estrogen, in particular, floods your body during pregnancy, causing, among other things, an extremely strong sense of smell.
Morning Sickness and Smell
Because every pregnant woman is going to be bombarded with hormones, every pregnant woman is also going to have heightened olfactory abilities. However, not every woman experiences it to an intense degree. In fact, What to Expect reports a commonly held theory that all that the heightened sense of smell, no matter how small, might actually influence the presence of morning sickness—women who can’t smell actually don’t have morning sickness.
The worst part about this is that it can make things you really love to smell absolutely disgusting. Your favorite perfume is suddenly reminiscent of a sewer line, and that cooking bacon sends you running to the bathroom. And even worse, you may not ever be able to remember how whatever-it-is smelled when you enjoyed it.
Dealing with the Heightened Smell
The world is full of scents, and sadly you can’t put your nose in a bubble. But you can figure out which specific smells bother you. If it’s everything, you can still work with that. In the kitchen, cut out anything with an especially strong odor. Things like sauerkraut are delicious, but the scent really lingers. Or, if you can’t ditch the cabbage, at least let in as much fresh air as possible.
When it comes to personal hygiene, you may even find things you’ve been using every day for years are problematic. Switch to unscented deodorants, soaps, and lotions, or alternatively, find products with a soothing scent—lavender, chamomile, lemon, mint, whatever your nose can handle. Lavender is calming, and mint has a reputation for settling the stomach, so even carrying a sachet in your pocket that you can discretely sniff when you’re feeling over-smelled can be helpful.
Additionally, if you’re the kind of person that washes your jeans every six or seven wears, it might be time to lower that number. Fabric holds all kinds of scents—from your skin care products, to the place you wore it, to the seat you sat in. Finally, ask for a little consideration from the people around you. You’re pregnant, and they can deal with it.
