During pregnancy, many women experience a heightened sense of smell. Ideally you are smelling mostly flowers and freshly baked cookies, as you will probably be more sensitive to all of the smells around you.
What causes it?
As is the case for most of the odd, unintuitive symptoms of pregnancy, your hormones are to blame. Though progesterone is usually the culprit, for this particular symptom, estrogen is the one that makes your nose super-responsive.
Tips?
If your heightened sense of smell is contributing to your morning sickness, try cooking only those foods that you do not get negative reactions to, and leave your windows open to dilute strong odors as much as you can. There is nothing you can do to make your sense of smell less strong, so you may want to try to decrease the potency of the odors themselves by opening windows, and using chemical-free candles.
Reviewed by Dr. Jamie Lo
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Sources
- Mayo Clinic Staff. “First trimester pregnancy: What to expect.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 4/22/2014. Web.
