Here’s a wild fact: Your days-old newborn baby will be able to recognize you, Mom, simply by the smell of your skin. What’s more, the foods you eat while you’re expecting can affect not only your developing baby’s sense of taste, but also her sense of smell. 

Here’s what you need to know about the fetal sense of smell — including when and how it develops as well as how what you eat may impact your little one for years to come.

Can babies smell in the womb?

Most research on the development of fetal smell has been done on animals, since it’s challenging to safely study human babies in the womb. But studies of preterm infants suggest that babies are indeed capable of smelling throughout the third trimester. 

Some researchers believe fetuses may be able to start smelling — i.e. reacting to the chemicals they “breathe” in through their noses — in the womb as early as month 6, though the sense really ramps up during months 8 and 9 of pregnancy.

How your baby’s sense of smell develops

Your baby’s sense of smell starts developing early on in pregnancy. Around weeks 6 and 7, olfactory receptor neurons that help your baby’s brain process odors develop.

Two symmetrical nasal cavities that are the foundation of your baby’s nose also form in the first trimester. These nasal passages will then open and connect her mouth to her nostrils. 

Your baby’s trigeminal system, which allows her nose to react to touch and warmth, will also start developing before the end of the third month.

Eventually, olfactory smell receptors in your baby’s nose will connect with the olfactory bulb in the brain. Together, these structures allow your baby to detect odors — a feat she can accomplish early on in the third trimester.   

What does your baby smell in the womb? 

Since what you eat gets passed on to your amniotic fluid, your baby not only tastes but smells some of the foods you swallow during late pregnancy. 

When pregnant women eat certain strongly-flavored foods during the last months of pregnancy, newborn babies recognize the odors immediately after birth, some studies have found — indicating that your baby detects and remembers these scents in the womb. 

Those memories may last for years: One study found that moms who ate garlic during the last month of pregnancy had kids who, at age 8 or 9, ate more garlic-flavored food than kids whose mothers didn't eat it while pregnant.

Your baby may also be able to smell the scented beauty products you put on your skin and the perfumes you breathe in through your nose, since their chemicals enter your bloodstream and then your amniotic fluid. 

Can babies smell breast milk?

The tiniest newborn babies can sniff out breast milk and even lactating women because breast milk has very specific fragrances that are extremely attractive to babies. Infants can also recognize their own mothers simply by smell. 

How is this possible? Some of the same chemicals, including a few coming from the foods you eat, are found in your amniotic fluid as well as your skin and breast milk. And it makes sense that your infant would be especially attuned to your very specific smell: Your baby needs to be able to recognize and rely on you for meals, comfort and love from day one!

How to encourage your baby’s sense of smell

All of this means that the foods you eat during pregnancy may influence what your baby likes not only now but perhaps for years to come. So focus on snacking on an array of treats and dishes and eating a balanced and varied pregnancy diet featuring plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. 

Feel free to try any of the stronger-flavored foods, like garlic or curry, that you’ll want to share with your little one later on, since your baby will possibly develop an affinity for those scents and flavors in utero. However, there are a lot of special factors at play, both in and out of your control, that affect every aspect of how your baby develops.

The most important thing to remember and look forward to is that when that beautiful baby of yours is born, she will recognize you just by the way you smell after all the fine-tuning of that cute little nose that happened in utero. And that's an experience that's more than worth waiting for.