Daft question re perfume

[PossibiliTea]

I’m hoping I’m going to get a virtual slap here

I’ve just sprayed a hefty dose of Prada candy on my wrists and neck and did take a pretty big breath in of the stuff, and my friend looked horrified and said “do you still use perfume?!” I’m in my second trimester now but I’ve never thought it was an issue!

So I’ve been told and shown the horror stories from “science says” google sites. But can I ask some normal people - did you carry on wearing perfume as normal when pregnant? Would it be such a bad thing if I had inhaled a fair bit?

It's safe

I don't wear perfume, but I would assume it's safe unless there is something in it that shouldn't be. There are a few essential oils you should generally avoid in pregnancy (clary sage in particular, though it smells like ass, so can't imagine any perfumes would actually have it in them). I would maybe just read the ingredients and check any oils or other unfamiliar ingredients, but really, you use it in such small amounts that I can't see it causing any issues. I would just forgo using it once baby arrives because it will be too strong for him/her, so might as well enjoy it now.

I stopped. Mainly because I was so nauseated that the smell made me sick but also because ‘frangrance’ is one of the few catch all terms in cosmetic labelling - it can be a mix of almost anything .

There is some reasonably solid work on artificial musks and things like hypospadias. So no, I didn’t wear perfume.

Inhaling it isn’t so much the issue as it being on your skin.

The problem with perfume is that the ingredients are not all listed. What’s listed as ‘fragrance ‘ can be a cocktail of an awful lot of stuff.

Oh I didn’t realise it was so bad, I’ll stop using it but is this something that could have done serious damage?

There’s an association between common perfume ingredients and certain categories of birth defect (generally endocrine disrupters so stuff like Hypospadias and I descended testicles.) there’s not enough work done to quantify that risk in any way - right now it’s at the ‘x is in some perfumes and we know that x in high doses causes y’ kind of level. We don’t have enough data to say ‘using c amount of of perfume a week = d amount of damage.’
There may be nothing in yours that’s harmful, it may be in a level that doesn’t cross the skin or cause any issues. It’s very much a theoretical risk, of you see what I mean?

So don’t in any way panic or fret or worry. The chances of any damage are probably very very slim. The main reason i didn’t use anything fragrance was just barfing at it, with maybe 10% mild residual paranoia from my previous life in science.

Don’t panic, probably fine

It's safe

So does that extend to perfumed bodywashes, deodorant, nail varnish, make-up and being too close to other people that seem to bathe in perfume/aftershave? I have used perfume during all three pregnancies (except as others noted when my sniffer dog nose could not tolerate) and my children don’t smell like Chanel but maybe I did it wrong 🙂 To put my stance in context I am a grump on her last pregnancy on a restrictive diet and refusing to add anything else to the avoid list! My mum smoked through her pregnancy with me and it did me no harm...cough, splutter, cough cough

Give it up if it is going to get you anxious as pregnancy is a worrying time no doubt and you will need to decide what advice to follow to keep you happy and your baby safe as you see fit. There are people that avoid all perfumed products whether pregnant or not and they have evidence to support it but I personally have chosen it is not a high risk issue for me or my children. I have a fear of my children choking on popcorn so they are not allowed it, I don’t judge others for giving it to their kids I just accepted it is not important in our diet and it bothers me too much to just let them have it, I don’t care if others think its safe or not, I would be the one living with guilt if anything happened. I do let my kids have Haribo and that would likely survive a nuclear holocaust so go figure!

So does that extend to perfumed bodywashes, deodorant, nail varnish, make-up

It’s a very good question. What’s in all these products? How safe is it? What’s a safe concentration? What are safe combinations?

The answer is we don’t know. We can’t experiment on pregnant women and there’s not enough safety data to extrapolate from in animals. I checked labels - I tried to avoid stuff with pthalates in because they are know endocrine disrupters. I didn’t use perfume (mainly because it made me spew..) because I had no way of knowing what was in it but figured it’d be at a higher concentration than in stuff like shampoo, and in contact with skin for longer.
What was that based on? Well my background in genetics of development/cancer genetics. But not an evidence base that’d be strong enough to make public health recommendations.
Nail polish, no I didn’t use that, but I don’t anyway. Make up, I used as I normally did (ie not very often.) hairspray and air freshener I don’t touch.

and being too close to other people that seem to bathe in perfume/aftershave?

They all need to be shot :)

I ate medium rare steak if I could keep it down. I had soft boiled eggs. I ate sushi (not much stayed down but I tried..) all those things I deemed the risk minimal (fish is pre frozen, beef generally safe, eggs all from vaccinated hens here.)

Wow I didn't know there was any associated risk with perfume, have been spritzing it on regularly and now into third trimester

There isn't. It falls into the category of 'no evidence of a risk' like a lot of things.

I wasn’t too worried about it until now to be honest, glad to hear some people have used it through pregnancy and all has been ok though.

There isn't. It falls into the category of 'no evidence of a risk' like a lot of things

Not quite. It contains components known to have teratogenic effects. There’s a paucity of evidence on how much of a risk that actually is. Until that’s quantified you can’t say it’s safe. Nor can you make wholesale recommendations to avoid.

I'm not saying it's not a risk. I'm saying there's no evidence of a risk. Wearing a spritz of perfume is not going to harm your baby. Scaremongering anxious pregnant people is not helping anyone.

I must admit I do feel lightheaded at the thought I’ve harmed my baby by doing something I didn’t think twice about. I’ve text my midwife and I’ll make an appointment, maybe even book a private scan to see how things are developing ( I do understand not all defects can be seen on scans) and just hope for the best I guess.

I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid to be honest I’ve been so careful with foods

Really don’t panic. This is a very theoretical risk.

You haven't been "so stupid" possibilitea. Think about the circumstance in which healthy babies are born: war zones, abusive homes etc. Wearing a spritz of perfume hasn't and won't harm your baby.