How old was your child when they developed a sense of smell?

[adoptivemum1234]

This may be an odd question.....I posted in parenting but think this page may work better as he is adopted.

My son (10) has until very recently been oblivious to smells. Onions chopped, dogs doing smelly farts, manure spread on fields outside etc, he'd never mention it.

Now he does and is very tuned in to smells.

Got me wondering if it's a developmental thing? Or maybe he's just unique 

Is it a sensory thing ? Maybe he finds certain smells overwhelming so he blocks them mentally .

Or related to any kind of allergy which might have blocked his nose ?

I've no idea what's normal, but I've never thought about it but DS could definitely smell at about 9mo. We went to view a house that sank of dogs and DS was really distressed.

We used a cleaning company for a while and had to ask them to stop using the cinnamon airfreshener because it made DS feel ill at c. 6yo, he still hates cinnamon

I think that smell is there at birth, isn’t that one of the ways that a newborn baby finds the nipple?

And I know it’s one of the last senses to go when someone is dying.

So my guess is that it was there all along but was blocked. I’m not sure if smells can be blocked mentally actually, because I don’t think they go through the hypothalamus like other senses. But I’m not an expert.

I know that smells can evoke strong memories from early childhood, I wonder if it’s triggering upsetting memories for him ?

Or is it a smell disorder ? Has your son ever has nasal polyps or trauma or surgery to his head ? On medications Or has dental problems ? Does anyone in the family smoke? It can be related to medical conditions like hormone problems.

How’s his appetite ?

Thanks all

I wonder if it's just him learning to connect his senses to his words. He struggles with this. For example When he's nervous he says he has a tummy ache, but is only just learning that's butterflies / nerves

When he's worried about stuff he'll say it's something else that worrying him and takes some digging to get to the actual thing, he has an avoidant attachment style so the smell blocking makes sense I guess

No smokers here but his Birth family did. He's had a broken nose (in birth family) which may have effected smell?

It's just odd that it's now working, it's like a switch in his head has flicked and his smells are in "on" mode

I agree possibly the mind blocking smell. I have had a lot of experience with adults and teenagers with trauma related problems and know it can be relatively common to unconsciously or subconsciously block out different senses to protect themselves. You’re definitely right that connecting senses to words can be difficult, but also if you’re subconsciously blocking or lessening senses it can be more difficult. Apologies if this seems unrelated initially - I will get to the point in this but my husband had cancer as a child and I have just managed to persuade him to get proper therapy for it. Interestingly, he has always struggled to connect where pain is in the body and what the cause is - so he’ll say he has a headache or stomach ache but couldn’t pin point where it is. He’s improving at this since starting therapy but it linked back to him escaping the pain and strange physical feelings that came with cancer, as well as blocking the emotion of himself and others around him - that used to cause that nervous sicky feeling. He also struggles with smell, which is partly radiotherapy but also definitely a block based on tests. He was in a rather chaotic and highly emotional family and did not have the option to work through his cancer in therapy at the time. In fact, escapism was encouraged as was lack of structure. This caused him to shut down in many ways, become very self absorbed (no blame there, it was his coping mechanism) and hugely slowed emotional development. However, now he’s in a comfortable environment and has a bit more structure he’s been able to open up to a lot of these issues. So, I think it shows you’re providing a loving and stable environment where your son feels safe enough to open up his senses and experience a bit more of the world.

As an adopted adult who experienced traumatic childhood experiences, for me it happened the opposite way, I am seriously sensitive to all senses which causes conversations in our house to be hilarious. When the cat poos, I’ll be running for cover with hands holding my nose while my husband says ‘She hasn’t gone to the loo, has she?” Or I’ll be jumping about thinking there’s an intruder or a fight outside while my husband can’t hear a thing, I’ll open the back door and find there’s a party across the way!

What an interesting post, MagpieSong, I found it fascinating! Hope it helps the OP.

Thanks wh1spers 🙂 I hope it does too. Really glad you found it interesting.

Thanks so much for your reply it was very reassuring