I don't think ds has much of a sense of smell ... is this possible?

[bodiddly]

He is nearly 4 and he never seems bothered by smells ... either nice or nasty. He pretends to react to smells like smelly socks as he has copied us but I am not convinced he really can tell. Has anyone heard of this before?

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When I was a child I had a very poor sense of smell. Anyway, I just outgrew it as an adult I have had phases of having too strong a sense of smell, in fact. Right now, my sense of smell is a bit weak again, which is fine.

I'm not sure what you're worried about. I know they say that smell is linked to taste, but it didn't seem to work like that for me.

Im not worried just intrigued ... I guess it is only a concern if you have no sense of smell in relation to things burning or a fire etc. I would imagine he can smell some things.

anyone else?

If he can taste things he will have some sense of smell. The glands or whatever that smell are at the top of your nose so when you eat you smell things though you mouth iyswim (saw it on the RI lectures one crimbo). You are right that no sense of smell at all could be dangerous in a fire, I have a friend whose house caught fire and his dad was in the room but didn't notice for ages because he couldn't smell the burning, smoke detector would sort that out though. Maybe he has a blocked nose?

He has always been like it ... 4 years is a long time to have a blocked nose

I haven't heard of it but I always thought children had a better sense of smell than adults. They generally have better hearing and eyesight. Perhaps they're just not as disgusted by certain smells as we are?

Hmmm.... I wonder if you could do a test disguised as a game - put various smelling things in a bag and see if he (and your dp or other dc if you have any) can tell what they are by smelling them.

I have tried with a few things but I think I need to make a bit more of an effort - perhaps I can catch him unawares with some things and try to get a genuine reaction.

Can he taste things though? Because if you can't smell you really have very very limited ability to taste, would be able to tell the difference between sweet and sour, but not be able to distinguish between different types of sweet food in any way.

he can definitely taste things ... he is a typical little boy who likes a particular food one minute and proclaims he hates it the next! I guess that means he can smell and maybe it is just that he has a limited sense.

Difficult to know then, he may just not be offended by nasty smells, or his language skills may be letting him down, or indeed he may have limited smell sense. Interesting, I wouldn't worry about it though.