They say pregnancy heightens your senses, but no one warns you what happens when those senses are pushed too far.

When her stepdaughter with a body odor problem visits, her oversensitive nose can’t handle it, so she found herself battling a scent that no amount of love or candles could cover.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITAH for criticising my SD’s mother for her nasty smell?

I (29F) am 4 months pregnant with my and my husband’s first baby.

We are very happy for our baby and excited to be parents, but my pregnancy proved to be more difficult than I expected.

The main problem I have is extreme nausea. Some smells that I used to like before now make me sick.

This proves to be quite debilitating.

I can smell everything around me, and the things that make me very, very sick are food and body odor.

My husband has a daughter from his previous relationship, Violet (13F), and as per the custody agreement, she comes to stay with us every week from Friday after school to Sunday afternoon/evening.

I have nothing against Violet, and we used to have a decent relationship, but she stinks — and it’s making it impossible to live in my own home.

Violet’s personal hygiene problems seem to be exacerbated by her mother’s inaction.

Her mother is against chemical deodorants, so she buys her some natural things that do not cover the sweat smell.

And it’s not only she that smells — it’s also her clothes that have a very nasty smell, like sweat and musky and old.

It’s a very nasty combination, and it’s making me puke every time I am near her.

They’ve tried to find ways around this, but no one ever cooperates.

We tried finding solutions, but with no results. Violet refuses to wear the clothes that are in our house (and that are clean and fresh).

Instead, she comes from her mother’s place with a set of clothes and pajamas, wears them while she is here, and takes them back to her mother’s each Sunday.

We asked her to allow us to wash her clothes when she comes in on Friday. She always refuses, saying her clothes are clean.

Yeah, so clean that she stinks.

Her mother refuses to cooperate on this as well. She refuses to convince Violet to allow us to wash her clothes because we don’t use natural products and claims her daughter does not smell.

Now she feels like her own home isn’t even safe.

It became an entire nightmare for me to live in my own house while she is here.

I tried — I really tried— different approaches, but they always fail.

During lunch or dinner, I tried staying as far away from her as possible, but I can still smell her, which results in me not being able to eat and very often puking my guts out.

She tries more ways to mask the smell.

When she is here, I fill the house with a lot of scented candles and wear a lot of perfume on myself in order to have other predominant smells.

Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s not healthy for me to live in a house filled with smoke and perfume.

So finally, her husband had to bar Violet from visiting altogether.

As I said, after trying multiple solutions and discussing with the mother (who refuses to cooperate with us), my husband got tired of seeing me sick and told Violet and her mother that she cannot come to our house anymore until I give birth.

He explained to them that I need to be able to relax and enjoy being in my own home, which I can’t do anymore due to their refusal to be understanding of our situation.

So now Violet’s mother blames her for her sensory issues.

Violet’s mother sent me a nasty text accusing me of being the reason why my husband is abandoning his daughter.

No one is abandoning her. We will start allowing her to come over after I give birth.

She said as a woman, I should make an effort and make my husband be closer to his kid.

So she decides to point the finger back at Violet’s mother.

In response, I sent her the following message:

“Well, as a woman, you should be able to understand that pregnancy sickness is not something I can control. Also, as a woman, you should be focused on your daughter’s hygiene and not let her smell like a dumpster.”

She replied that I have no idea how hard it is to be in her situation and that I am nasty for criticizing a fellow mother.

AITA?

It may be an uncomfortable conversation, but it’s one that needs to be had.

What did Reddit have to say?

Intervening in Violet’s hygiene could actually stand to benefit her too.

This user wonders if these parents are really doing any disciplining.

Maybe someone else could get through to the biological mother.

The biological mother is doing her daughter a huge disservice.

Sometimes boundaries are out of necessity, not cruelty.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.