Babies can’t open a window or ask anyone to skip the perfume. Here’s what researchers have found in pregnant women’s bodies, in breast milk, in the air of childcare rooms, and coming off the products sold for babies.
Evidence key Strong Moderate Weak How we grade
Pregnant women who wear perfume carry more of its solvent
Pregnant women who used perfume in a 48-hour window had 2.3 times higher urinary levels of MEP, the breakdown product of the fragrance solvent diethyl phthalate (DEP), than non-users, in a study of 186 low-income African American and Dominican pregnant women in New York City — independently replicating the same finding in a Boston fertility-clinic cohort (Braun 2014, 167% higher) and a postpartum cohort (Parlett 2013, 2.92x). Moderate evidence. Just 2010
More frequent perfume use tracked higher urinary MEP in pregnant women in a clear dose-response pattern. Moderate evidence. Just 2010
In a study of 164 pregnant women in New York City, the phthalate metabolites MEP and MnBP were detected in 100% of urine samples. Moderate evidence. Just 2010 (or equivalent NYC pregnant-women cohort)
More on how fragrance gets into the body: perfume in your blood.
In breast milk
Musk fragrance chemicals were found in the breast milk of all 101 Swedish first-time mothers tested; the musk chemical galaxolide (HHCB) was detected in every single sample across a seven-year span (1996-2003). Strong evidence. Lignell 2008
As early as the mid-1990s, the musk fragrance chemicals galaxolide (HHCB) and tonalide (AHTN) were already detectable in the body fat and breast milk of every German person tested, 19 out of 19 samples. Moderate evidence. Rimkus & Wolf 1996
What a mother puts on her skin and her clothes appears to matter. In 101 Swedish first-time mothers tested over seven years, women who used perfume once a week or more had significantly higher levels of the musk chemical galaxolide (HHCB) in their breast milk than women who used it less often. Moderate evidence. Lignell 2008 Mothers who used perfumed laundry detergent had significantly higher levels of the musk chemical tonalide (AHTN) in their breast milk than mothers who used unscented detergent. Moderate evidence. Lignell 2008
These studies measured exposure, not harm to babies, and none of this is a reason to stop breastfeeding. It’s a reason to drop the perfume and the scented detergent.
Cleaning sprays and babies’ breathing
Birth studies in four countries found the same kind of link. Mothers who use cleaning sprays during pregnancy have infants with higher odds of both a lower respiratory tract infection (29% higher, OR 1.29) and wheezing (37% higher, OR 1.37) in their first year of life, in a pooled analysis of four Spanish birth cohorts (n=2,292); prenatal solvent use also raised wheezing odds (30% higher) and prenatal air freshener use raised LRTI odds (29% higher). Moderate evidence. Casas 2013 Industry-funded
In a large UK birth cohort (ALSPAC, n=7,019), each 1-unit increase in a composite score of prenatal household chemical product use (11 products, frequency-weighted) raised the odds of persistent wheeze through age 3.5 by 6% (adjusted OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09), and children of mothers in the top decile of use were more than twice as likely to wheeze persistently as those in the bottom decile (adjusted OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.4); transient early wheeze and late onset wheeze showed no significant adjusted association. Moderate evidence. Sherriff et al. 2005
In a Czech birth cohort of 3,411 children (ELSPAC-CZ), each 1-SD increase in an 18-product household chemical exposure score measured at 6 months raised the odds of intermediate-onset transient wheeze (adjusted OR 1.27), early-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.36) and intermediate-onset persistent wheeze (adjusted OR 1.23) through age 5, and those persistent wheeze phenotypes carried 5-8x higher odds of a doctor-diagnosed asthma by age 7 (pediatrician records, not self-report). Moderate evidence. Mikeš 2019
Scented spray products — spray and plug-in air fresheners, dusting sprays — were among the specific product types most strongly associated with childhood wheeze and asthma risk in this Canadian birth cohort. Moderate evidence. Parks et al. 2020
Air-freshener use also went with higher chemical levels in the air at home. Among 170 UK homes monitored for a year with passive VOC samplers, daily or near-daily use of air fresheners or of other household aerosols/sprays during pregnancy was statistically associated with the home's indoor total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentration being in the top quartile measured across the study. Moderate evidence. Farrow 2003
More on scent and breathing: fragrance and asthma.
Children breathe what adults clean with
Limonene was detected in every childcare room studied and was more than 1,000 times higher indoors than outdoors, so it came from products used inside. Strong evidence. Hoang 2016
Childcare air had about three times more limonene than new California homes (33 vs 11 µg/m³), which the authors link to frequent cleaning. Moderate evidence. Hoang 2016
More than 70% of the chemicals measured in childcare air had no health-based safety limit; several fragrance compounds were among 12 the authors flagged for further study. Moderate evidence. Hoang 2016
Children may not react the way adults do, and almost nobody has tested it. The limonene-asthma association was substantially stronger in children than adults in this Canadian national survey: children (6-16y) had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.46 (95% CI 1.45-1.47) for asthma per 100% increase in indoor limonene versus 1.16 (95% CI 1.15-1.16) in adults (17-79y), and the FeNO increase was about twice as large in children (2.89%, 95% CI 1.88-4.43) as in adults (1.44%, 95% CI 1.16-1.79). Moderate evidence. Dales & Cakmak 2019 Industry-funded
No controlled human exposure studies investigating whether children, elderly people, or smokers are more sensitive to irritant chemicals than healthy young adults could be found in the literature through August 2020. Moderate evidence. Mangelsdorf et al. 2021, Int J Hyg Environ Health
What’s in products sold for babies
In a test of 42 fragranced baby products (shampoos, lotions, oils, sprays), 95% of the chemicals they released into the air were not listed on the label, safety data sheet, or company website. Moderate evidence. Nematollahi 2018
In this test, “green,” “organic,” and “natural” didn’t mean fewer chemicals. Baby products labeled green, organic, or natural released no fewer chemicals than regular ones (398 vs 286 detections), and 20 of 21 in each group released at least one chemical classed as potentially hazardous. Moderate evidence. Nematollahi 2018
In a US label survey of 533 personal care products marketed for babies and children, 48% (255/533) contained a fragrance-category allergen and 55% (294/533) contained at least one of eight screened contact allergens. Moderate evidence. Bonchak 2018
One product was simply perfume, sold for babies. A deodorant vapo-spray labeled "perfume for babies" in this 1996 European sample contained 14 of 21 tested fragrance substances at levels up to 1640 ppm, including 4 fragrance-mix allergens. Moderate evidence. Rastogi et al. 1998
In FDA's 2010 follow-up survey, 5 of 24 baby-care products (shampoos, body washes, creams, lotions, and oils) contained diethyl phthalate (DEP), at levels up to 274 ug/g — the only phthalate ester found in any baby-care product tested. Moderate evidence. Hubinger 2010
“Baby safe” on a laundry jug doesn’t mean unscented. Laundry detergents marketed 'baby safe' (n=5) were fragranced in 80% of products (4 of 5) and had the highest average common-allergen count of any detergent subgroup studied (2.6 allergens/product), higher than plain scented-liquid detergents (2.4/product). Moderate evidence. Bai 2020
The two commonest fragrance allergens on Danish children's cosmetics, limonene (22% of fragranced products) and linalool (18%), are not in the standard European patch test series; they become strong allergens when they oxidize in air. Moderate evidence. Botvid 2023
The data on babies came late
Before the 2010s, essentially every cosmetic-safety exposure estimate for adults rested on just two large industry-run studies — one European, one American — and there was no published consumption or exposure data at all for babies, children, adolescents, or pregnant women; that gap only started closing in the last decade. Moderate evidence. Ficheux 2019, systematic review of 82 studies, 2000-Feb 2018 Industry-funded
What to do
Because galaxolide (HHCB) levels in milk tracked perfume use and tonalide (AHTN) levels tracked scented-laundry-detergent use specifically, choosing fragrance-free perfume and fragrance-free laundry detergent during pregnancy and breastfeeding are each independently plausible ways to lower the corresponding musk chemical passed to a nursing infant. Moderate evidence. Lignell 2008
During pregnancy, prefer pouring or wiping cleaning products rather than spraying them, and limit solvent and air-freshener use, since spray application was the exposure most consistently linked to infant respiratory symptoms across this and sibling cohort studies. Moderate evidence. Casas 2013 Industry-funded
- Go fragrance-free during pregnancy and breastfeeding, starting with perfume and laundry detergent.
- Pour or wipe cleaners instead of spraying them, and cut out air fresheners and plug-ins.
- Ask visitors to skip the perfume around the baby. You don’t owe anyone an apology for that.
- Ask your childcare center what it cleans with and whether it uses air fresheners. A letter can do the asking for you.
- Treat “natural,” “green,” and “baby safe” as marketing, not guarantees. Read the ingredient list with the label decoder, EWG Skin Deep, or EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning, and remember that even a full label won’t list everything a product releases into the air.
More for parents: the fragrance, pregnancy, and kids guide, and scented laundry.
Information, not medical advice. If you’re pregnant, or your baby wheezes or has trouble breathing, talk to your doctor.