OK, as long as we are in the odiferous zone, let me tell you I got a call
at home last night at midnight from parents of a 5-day-old who said their
baby suddenly smelled bad--really bad. I told them this would be hard for
me to judge over the phone, and I sent them to the hospital nursery for a
sniff test.  I called the nursery to advise them just to sniff, not to act
dumfounded, but they were just this side of panicked:  "How do we know if
something's wrong?"  Well, it seems to me they've smelled LOTS of 5-day-old
babies, so if it smells like all the others, send the parents home and let
them follow-up the next day, if necessary, but if it smells alarming, give
them the phone and let them call their baby's doctor. I said to
particularly notice if it had a "mousy" smell, and then had to explain
about MSUD.  Well, I'll find out when I get to work this AM if there's
going to be a major brouhaha about my advice.

I have had parents offer their baby to me to smell at the hospital, saying
it didn't smell good, but I've never been able to tell what it is they're
smelling.  But I figure anything that makes them wake me up at midnight is
probably worth checking out.

Arly in Northern Utah                [log in to unmask]
MS, CLE, IBCLC