Smelly question

[AngelBarbie]

Why does faeces smells?

[tonyb]

They don't always - the faeces of breast-fed babies don't smell at all. I suppose it's down to what you eat.

[andy hughes]

It is entirely down to what you eat. Human faeces is made up of one third to one half of bacteria, it is the indole and skatole bacteria that give human faeces its distinctive odour, and that odour is stronger if meat is part of the diet. Because nursing babies' faeces contain virtually no bacteria, they produce correspondingly little odour, unless infection is present, which can add to the bacteria which produce odour in mature digestive systems.