# Do breastfeed babies smell funny?



## Primigravida (May 7, 2006)

I've never been around a breastfeed baby.
All of the baby's I've ever met were formula feed and they all have that gross formula spit-up smell. I think that's why I've never held a baby because of the gross smell.

My aunt gave me a bunch of dirty baby clothes all soiled with formula. The smell almost made me vomit.

A chick on another forum said that she couldn't stand the smell of formula either and is looking forward to breastfeeding. I'm looking forward to breastfeeding too because I can't stand the formula smell.

But I'm wondering if breastmilk will leave my baby smelling funny?
I've been around breastfeed kittys and puppies and they didn't smell funny.
Is it the same with us?


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## MonkeyAndOtterMom (Oct 1, 2006)

no! if anything it smells sweet. its sticky on their mouths, and it tastes sweet.
i do agree about the gross formula smell..........nursings the best thing!


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## moondiapers (Apr 14, 2002)

Breastfed babies smell sweet. Though the spit up is still pretty gross, but it doesn't stain like formula spit up does.


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## Primigravida (May 7, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *moondiapers* 
Breastfed babies smell sweet. Though the spit up is still pretty gross, *but it doesn't stain like formula spit up does*.


Why does formula stain?!







:
That's worst than the smell. I always wondered why clean baby clothes stay stained. I spill food on myself *ALL* the time and my clothes don't end up permanently stained.


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## MamaRabbit (May 26, 2005)

I love to smell DS's breastmilk breath...







:


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## dani76 (Mar 24, 2004)

My DH has always loved my daughter's sweet breath.


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## beckyand3littlemonsters (Sep 16, 2006)

*No bf babies don't smell funny even sick and poo doesn't smell as much as ff babies till there on solids that is*


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## Meiri (Aug 31, 2002)

I loved how mine smelled as babies. The poo doesn't smell as bad either, not that I "took samples" up close...









Basically, they smell the way they're supposed to smell, plus whatever scents might be added if you use anything with a scent (I don't recommend) on them (shampoo, dryer sheet for the clothes...).


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## ellymay (Aug 4, 2005)

no they don't smell to me unless like the pp's said it is a sweet smell

You know something funny is dd burped in dh's face and he immediatly turned his head and said man that stinks and I looked at him and said what her burps don't even smell and he turned his head back around and smelled her breath and nothing....LOL....he was so used to formula burps he didn't even really smell it just instinctiveness thinking it was going to stink...LOL


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## hipumpkins (Jul 25, 2003)

Mmmm I love to smell a breastfed bab y's little breath...even their little heads.


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## Benji'sMom (Sep 14, 2004)

There's definitely a difference, if you'd ever switch a baby from BF to FF you'd notice a change in the way their skin smells. It would go from sweet to sweat.


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## NaomiLorelie (Sep 2, 2004)

My BFed babies have always smelled wonderful!


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## CRosewhisper (Aug 26, 2004)

Both my breastfed sons have smelled very pleasant. And I'm not a big fan of bathing young babies, wipe down with damp cloth ok but my bathroom always seemed too cold. Both my Mom and Dad would comment on how good they smelled and would ask what I use on them. Which is funny because I use nothing and the last water they were "in" was the amniotic kind. Breastfed poops can smell like buttered popcorn to yeasty bread. Nothing icky, to me anyways.


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## EastonsMom (Oct 24, 2005)

Definitly sweeter, formula makes me want to HURL!







uke:


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## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

In my experience as a mother, formula fed babies smell like sour old milk, and breastfed babies smell sweet and heavenly. (I've done both.)

Actually the formula fed babies do smell heavenly...combined with sour milk...odd combination at times!


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## acupuncturemomma (Dec 31, 2005)

Breastfed babies smell YUMMY!


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## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

not all ff babies smell bad but bf babies definitely don't smell funny, they smell sweet. and mine only spit up about 10 times in her life anyways.


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## artemis80 (Sep 8, 2006)

Quote:

and mine only spit up about 10 times in her life anyways.
Ha, I'm lucky if my bf baby spits up only ten times a day!









But when he's not covered in spit-up, he smells great.


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## NaomiLorelie (Sep 2, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *artemis80* 
Ha, I'm lucky if my bf baby spits up only ten times a day!









But when he's not covered in spit-up, he smells great.









Me too! My babies are always like little fountains.


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## WNB (Apr 29, 2006)

My baby smells wonderful to me, except for the occasional cheesy neck folds (gravity + sleepy nursing = neck cheese the next day), which smell a little like sour milk. Her breath smells sweet and milky, if that makes any sense.


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## mothragirl (Sep 10, 2005)

breastfed babies smell like heaven!!!!


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## calidarling (Jul 14, 2006)

i love how my bf baby smells! it one of my favorite things about him, he just smells so sweet and cozy. no bad breath or anything,

which is nice because my niece was ff and she always smelled a bit sour to me and so i thought that was how babies smelled. apparently not true.


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## basmom (Jun 4, 2006)

I agree that bf babies smell lovely. My aunt said that ds's poops make her mouth water (a bit extreme, i agree) because they smell sweet to her.

I think formula-fed baby spit-up stains clothes in part because of the added iron. A friend gave me some hand me downs that had yellowish stains around the collar. They were definitely spit-up stains....yuck. I haven't had any staining problems with our clothes and we have a champion refluxer on our hands.


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## Viriditas (Aug 30, 2004)

I miss the 100% breastfed smell! It was so nice. Especially poops. Ds hardly eats any solids, but even so, his poops stink so bad now! I didn't know what a good thing I had until I lost it!


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## Mama Poot (Jun 12, 2006)

My breastfed baby smells sweet, but kinda sweaty....but that's just Henri







He's kind of a stinky boy naturally. His breath smells sweet, and his skin is nice smelling and soft as silk. His spit up is very mild and doesn't have much of a smell at all. I had to FF my toddler for 6 months, but I didn't have to deal with the nasty FF spitup because he never did spit up....his diapers were a WHOLE other ballgame.....uke


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## Swirly (May 20, 2006)

I can't even be around FF babies anymore, since having my BF one. I was trapped in a nursing moms room at church with two one time, and one of them farted and then pooped, and it was so awful I nearly vomited. My daughter hated it too, LoL. Whenever they bring their FF babies to my house, I give them plastic bags to put soiled diapers in and don't offer to let them throw them in our garbage. (I never say anything rude, and they have no idea probably - having never spent time with BF babies, so they don't even realize I have a problem with it).

My husband always says our baby's breath smells like cilantro, and we love to let her breathe on us. So sweet.


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## Kerriemoe (Aug 3, 2005)

Oooh, I can't wait for that soft milky smell again!

I remember my mother (who did both) telling me BF poo stains but spit-up doesn't; and FF spit-up stains but the poo doesn't. Personally, I was glad that my happy spitter who only pooped once a week was BF!

However, I also remember reading when I was pregnant that BF poo doesn't smell, and thinking there was something horribly wrong with DS because his did. There was nothing "not unpleasant" about it! Though DH and I were talking last night and we figure after having to deal with toddler poops, this baby's poop is likely to be much less offensive!









And that's enough about poop for me.


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## Penelope (Jul 22, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swirly* 
I can't even be around FF babies anymore, since having my BF one. I was trapped in a nursing moms room at church with two one time, and one of them farted and then pooped, and it was so awful I nearly vomited.

Sadly, every bf baby at some point becomes a child who eats table food, and likely still uses diapers... eventually their poop also starts to smell like, well, poop.


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## Swirly (May 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Penelope* 
Sadly, every bf baby at some point becomes a child who eats table food, and likely still uses diapers... eventually their poop also starts to smell like, well, poop.









Hehe, yeah - I am scared. She does eat some solids, but so far it hasn't been too bad, just gets thicker and more copious. She did poop some almost whole black bean skins the other day, which was interesting.


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## BlueStateMama (Apr 12, 2004)

They smell like marshmallows


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## spughy (Jun 28, 2005)

I had to supplement my baby with formula due to anemia-induced supply issued, starting at about 2 weeks. The WORST thing about it was the way she no longer smelled like my baby after I gave her the formula. There is nothing sweeter than a bf'd baby's breath, and I mourned that as much as I mourned my body's inability to provide for my daughter.

She wasn't supplemented a whole lot, so the poos were never really bad. But her breath after a bottle of formula was unpleasant.

Once I recovered enough to have a sufficient supply, she smelled "right" again. And even though she's eating a lot of solids now, she still has lovely milky breath after we nurse and I love putting my head close to hers and smelling it.


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## BlueStateMama (Apr 12, 2004)

Hey, and y'all be kind, please. My babies have been EBF'd and I *prefer* the smell, but it would hurt my feelings if I had an adopted baby I FF'd (after attempting to relactate, of course







) or was medically unable to BF and someone called my child "stinky" or said anything else derogatory about the baby.


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## Ahappymel (Nov 20, 2001)

Personally....
I think all babies smell great when they're clean : )
I think that the gross smell you refer to happens when milk or formula sours on clothing and in the baby's neckfolds. I think all spit-up smells raunchy, especially if it happens after breastmilk/formula have had a chance to curdle/sour in the baby's stomach.
But I do have to say....FF poops do smell much stronger than BF poops...of course that all just about evens out after solid foods are introduced.


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## Ahappymel (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BlueStateMama* 
They smell like marshmallows

















Babies FEEL like marshmallows too.


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## mamums (Jun 10, 2006)

Aside from the stinky neck cheese, my breastfed baby smells like ice cream







.


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## lovingmommyhood (Jul 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Primigravida* 
Why does formula stain?!







:
That's worst than the smell. I always wondered why clean baby clothes stay stained. I spill food on myself *ALL* the time and my clothes don't end up permanently stained.

I think it's the added iron.

I do not like the smell of formula but my BF baby is still a pretty stinky little man. haha. Maybe my milk is rotten.


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## damselfly41 (Sep 21, 2006)

BF babies smell like vanilla cake batter! I love it. Warm and homey and sweet. I may be odd, but even the smell of bf spit up makes me feel nostalgic.







:


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## hannybanany (Jun 3, 2006)

Ahhh... I remember putting my nose close to my dd's mouth while she was sleeping, and breathing when whe breathed out... What a wonderful smell! So warm and sweet and delicious.


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## rikiamber (Feb 4, 2006)

B's breath smells sweet i love when he lays nose to nose with me so i can smell his breath....his dipes also smell not so bad like strong butter popcorn, i love it...but iam weird.

i always tell B he taste like marsmellows...i am addicted to smores


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## Kama82 (Mar 12, 2006)

Not at all! I love how my daughter smells







: I used to spend hours just smelling that beautiful little newborn head.


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## louloubean (Apr 25, 2006)

my baby's smell reminds me of buttermilk!
he is super sweet and very fun to cuddle for everyone!


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## Fiercemama (May 30, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BlueStateMama* 
They smell like marshmallows









No - caramels!!!!


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## Fiercemama (May 30, 2003)

But seriously - nature intends for us to think our kids smell great. Its part of the bonding and hormones. I remember years ago seeing a thing on TV, may have been on 20/20, where they did a blind "sniff test" of babies by a group of mothers and fathers. The dads were *pretty* close, but every single mother could pick out her baby while blindfolded.

Scientists have discovered that it actually IS possible to build new brain cells. In fact, it happens when prolactin is released. And it helps to build cels in the part of the brain that is related to olfactory recognition. They theorize that it helps mothers to imprint and identify with their babies.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2003/...tin030103.html

So much for the idea that becoming a mother makes you dumb!


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## Sharondio (Apr 27, 2002)

Yep. Sweet breath, sweet poops. I remember almost gagging when holding my SILs soy-formula fed baby. And those poops?!? OMG. I literally had to leave the room. My DD had the same smell to hers when I gave her soy milk. uke

I think the formula stains because of the added mineral and added sugars. Sugar is particularly hard because it oxidizes over time. Even something that looked fine when you put it away will stain with time.


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## weeirishlass (Mar 30, 2006)

Sigh. I wish I could bottle that sweet bf baby breath smell and carry it around with me. Then anytime I was having a bad day, I could smell it and pretend dd was giving me a kiss. It's my favorite smell in the whole world.







It seems to have gone away now that dd is 10 months and eating some solids.








And to answer the op, nope, bf babies don't smell bad at all! I hate the formula smell, too. And you've got to love that bf babies poop smells like butter popcorn as opposed to smelling like, well, poop!


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## medicmama (May 5, 2006)

All my babies smelled like buttered popcorn,I could just eat them up!


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## roadfamily6now (Sep 14, 2006)

you mean like booby???

LOL

nope, my breastfeed kids smelled good. No puking like with my first 2 who were bottle feed and no smelly poop! It takes a pretty good nose to smell a breastfood poop, very subtle.


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## isabel rose (May 9, 2005)

sweet caramel... mostly. Met one baby who smelt sicky, but I think he was being suplemented. & the poo isn't too bad either, until they start solids.


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