First time mum - Advice on perfume with newborn?

[Jrking]

Hi all

I’m a first time mum to a 4 week old boy and wondered about two things. People have said to not use scented candles around a baby. I have one I’d like to light occasionally - not in the room he sleeps in but in living room. All my candles are soy wax. Is it really a no no?

Second thing is perfume. Do we need to avoid it for a while or not? There seem to be so many rules & I know it’s personal choice as there seem to be no definitive answers but I wanted to ask other mums opinions. Thanks 👍

I would steer clear of strong smells, well any scents really, at that age I wanted my baby to get to know my smell, not my perfume, my actual smell. Plus I think perfumes can be strong and get on their chest, no medical proof of this before people jump on me, it's just my thoughts.

I had to stop wearing perfume (and deodorant, I know) with DS. He hated it. He’s a teen now and still doesn’t like girls who wear a lot of perfume.

I’d definitely give the scented candles a miss for now but then I’ve lived with a severe asthmatic for years so I’m usually cautious about these things

Both my children were calm babies and I always wore perfume, used sprays around the house etc. Don't stress about all these "rules" - babies can tolerate a lot more than you might think.

@birdie6 that’s the kind of response I like 😄

Certain smells upset me as an adult-aftershave and hairspray are the worst-and set off my asthma,so I would avoid any synthetic scents around a young baby as much as possible if I were you.

One of my visitors to hospital when DD1 was born (I was in a week so we had a few) was wearing so much perfume I had to bath her afterwards. My days old baby smelt like a cheap whore. Vile. (That person is now an ex of the person who was actually visiting)

I also swapped fabric conditioner with household vinegar for the first few months. (Way cheaper and better for your machine anyway!) but DH likes his fabric conditioner so we had to swap back eventually. Still used it for DD2’s sheets though.

I think people become accustomed to their own smells and use more and more because they can’t smell it anymore. There’s a lady I have to avoid in my yoga class at all costs, though I can still smell her from the other side of the room. Deep breaths through the nose in her presence make me feel queasy. And perhaps a little bit that she is ruining my yoga class. She probably can’t even smell it.

I didn't wear perfume in the immediate postpartum period because I was too busy. I did a KIT day when DS1 was about five months and it was really noticeable that he hated the way I smelled and was unhappy about it when I came home wearing perfume. I've rarely worn it since. I want to enjoy my babies' natural smell and let them know me by mine.

Perfume was really useful for one of my babies, actually. She ‘knew’ the perfume as a part of my smell and so it meant that she could be comforted by other people wearing it or a room being lightly misted with it. It made it easier when we left her overnight for the first time. She was less stressed and easier to comfort. Yes, it meant my mummy smell wasn’t as ‘unique’ but more importantly, it meant my baby was less anxious in new environments and with ‘new’ people. It made transitions easier.

I'm 9 weeks into motherhood here with my pfb and he looks at me strangely when I feed him after a shower- I think he likes me smelling of a dairy farm over any of my lovely showergels/scents!

I’ve avoided perfume up until recently. There’s actually some pretty nasty chemicals in perfume which are potential carcinogens, and I didn’t want to expose my babies to them.

My first two (twins) actually screamed the house down when they’d only been home 24 hours and I had a McDonalds in bed with them (don’t judge me unless you’ve had twins!) and we eventually worked out that it was the smell which was freaking them out.

They also got really inconsolably upset a couple of months later when a friend came round wearing very strong perfume. I’ll never forget it, because it was so out of character for them and they were normally so chilled. My two are both quite sensorally sensitive though. (Is that even a word?! I don’t know!).

well i think it is normal to spray axe in ti's mouth

DFriend’s tiny shoved my scent tinged scarf in her gob mid cuddle. She went batshit. She’s now 14 and still eyes me with suspicion.....