Smelling Moms' Scent May Help Infants Bond With Strangers (2024)
Babies don’t make it easy on moms. They cry, whine and hold on for dear life if their mother tries to even leave the room. But a new study suggests an easy solution to help loosen one of the strongest forces in nature, the bond between mother and infant: a worn piece of clothing.
According to research published today in Science Advances, chemical signals in a mother’s unique scent may help infants bond with strangers, even when the mom is absent.
In the study, babies were exposed to their mother’s body odor via a worn t-shirt while interacting with a stranger. The infants that had their mother’s scent present, versus those exposed to a clean t-shirt, were able to bond with the new adult more easily, a finding that may help parents share child-rearing duties. “What's so exciting about it is that we can delegate parenting to those we live with,” says Ruth Feldman, a social neuroscientist at Reisman University in Israel, and co-author of the study. By simply having the scent of the mother present, the results suggest, another adult can fulfill a similar role in a child’s social and emotional development.
Body odor helps us connect with and understand others, explains Feldman. “From an evolutionary perspective, what is the secret to hom*o sapien’s survival, thriving and conquest of the world: our capacity to communicate,” she says. But our sense of smell, which was one of the first senses humans evolved, has often been overlooked in the study of infant-parent communication compared to vision and hearing.
One reason social smells are less studied is logistical: scents are complex and hard to manipulate in a lab. Body odor isn’t a single scent, but rather a co*cktail of chemical signals. Another reason smells are less studied is because humans are unconsciously sampling the smell of our surroundings all the time, says Eva Mishor, a neuroscientist at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who wasn’t involved in the work. Smells “affect our mental state, our brain activity, our hormonal state and our social interactions,” often without us noticing. “But if we look at the main decisions that we make in life, if it's what to eat, who should we mate with—sense of smell is a very important part of this,” she says.
Feldman and her colleagues knew from previous research with rodents that odors can be critical for an offspring's ability to recognize and bond with its mother, but few studies have examined the phenomenon in humans. The team was particularly interested in how a mother’s scent impacted the behavior and brain activity of babies ages 5 to 10 months. That age window is important, says Feldman, because a baby’s “social brain”—areas of the brain that are responsible for emotional regulation and social connection—develops rapidly.
Feldman was also curious how the presence or absence of a mother’s scent would impact the brain-to-brain synchrony between an infant and adult. During a social situation, human brain activity starts to correlate with the brain activity of those we are interacting with, in a process called “neural synchrony.” A conversation or eye contact is enough to get two individuals’ neurons firing in similar areas of their brain. This type of mirroring between parents’ and infant’s brain has been linked to the child’s emotional development, which made Feldman wonder how odor might impact the level of neural synchrony between a mom and baby.
In their study of 62 women, Feldman and her colleagues gave each mom a cotton t-shirt to sleep in for two consecutive nights. During the day, the mothers stored their shirt in a glass jar in the freezer. Then, each mom brought their baby and their worn t-shirt into the lab, and researchers placed EEG electrodes on the participants’ heads to measure their brain waves as they interacted under various conditions.
The first scenario was designed to give scientists a baseline understanding of the brain-to-brain synchrony of moms and their babies and didn’t involve the t-shirts at all. Each mom and their child was first seated facing back-to-back, and then face-to-face, with the moms in chairs and the babies in highchairs. As the researchers anticipated, they found that neural synchrony was higher between the mom and infant during face-to-face interactions. Then, they repeated the setup with the same set of infants, but this time introduced a female stranger who lived in the area and had a child of a similar age. As the infants interacted with the stranger, Feldman and her team placed either a clean or worn t-shirt on the highchair tray or near the baby’s face to see if the nearby smell of mom changed the infant’s behavior.
They found that infants presented with a clean t-shirt showed significantly lower brain-to-brain synchrony when interacting with the stranger, compared with when they interacted with a clean shirt and their mother. But when the babies were exposed to the mom-scented t-shirt, they showed the same degree of neural synchrony in both the mother and stranger scenario. “When infants interacted with the ‘stranger mother’ in the presence of the mother's body odor, the brain-to-brain synchrony leveled up....as if the infant trusted the other woman,” says Feldman. In addition to heightened neural synchrony, the results showed that infants exposed to their mother's scent during an interaction were more relaxed, smiled more and made more eye contact with the stranger.
Finding that a mother’s scent plays an important role in a child’s comfort is “a nice scientific confirmation of what many parents probably already do,” says Sarah Jessen, a neuroscientist at the University of Lübeck in Germany, who wasn’t involved in the study. If a mom leaves for work, for example, she may leave a blanket or piece of clothing with her scent to comfort her child. Jessen says this research could potentially be applied in medical settings too, like when a mom is separated from their child in a hospital. Next, Feldman and her colleagues are repeating the experiment with fathers.
The field of odor research is growing so rapidly, says Mishor, that this study is “just scratching the surface.” She is curious to see if they will be able to pinpoint a specific molecule or chemical in the mother’s scent that is driving processes. For now, she says parents can take comfort in the fact their baby is smelling and remembering their unique scent, and that scent could help the infant bond with others. “We sniff our babies all the time, and they sniff us,” says Mishor. “It’s meaningful for us, and for them.”
Multiple studies have shown that newborns "recognize and prefer the smell of their own mother's body odor and breast milk, even within the first few days after birth," Madden says.
The tiniest newborn babies can sniff out breast milk and even lactating women because breast milk has very specific fragrances that are extremely attractive to babies. Infants can also recognize their own mothers simply by smell.
By incorporating a parent's scent, the baby feels as though you are there physically with them, even when you are not. A parent's scent alone has the ability to reduce cortisol levels in babies, in turn reducing stress and anxiety, helping to promote longer, more sound sleep (for both the baby and parent).
Your baby will recognize your scent within days of birth. Researchers have found that 3-day-old infants are able to discriminate their mom's milk from someone else's by its smell. And not only does your baby know your scent, he loves it too.
Newborn. As a newborn, your baby will be familiar with your unique scent. They can even smell the difference between your breast milk and another woman's. By recognizing your scent, they feel comforted and secure knowing that they're with you.
They recognize people, places and things by their scent.
Baby's vision is still developing after birth, so they recognize people and places by their scent. That means that when you hold your baby or enter their room, they may recognize you not by how you look, but how you smell.
That's because between 4 and 7 months babies begin to realize that people and objects exist even when they can't see them. This is called object permanence. For example, if you leave the room your baby will know that you've gone away.
Your baby is getting used to different smells, but can still find strong aromas overpowering. In fact, a strong smell can interfere with his sense of taste. If you're wearing a strong perfume, he may not feed as well as usual . Your baby is becoming more aware of different people around him.
According to a 2021 study, “babies are more socially receptive to unfamiliar women when they can smell their mother's natural body odor, suggesting that maternal scent functions as a safety signal.” This study was done using a t-shirt that mothers were instructed to bring home to sleep with and then return to the test ...
Babies recognize their mother's scent even before they are born. Your baby is biologically and genetically programmed to connect to you through your unique smell. The process of development of olfactory cells (cells responsible for the sense of smell) begins as soon as the first trimester of pregnancy.
There are several possibilities, but the most effective smells tend to be lavender, vanilla, chamomile and rose. These all have a natural calming effect that can work wonders with infants. Wash your baby with bath products that contain naturally soothing ingredients.
Their research also argues that why your baby sleeps better next to you has a lot to do with the comforting touch of a parent. "A lot of mutual touch and interaction occurs between the sleep-sharers.What one does affects the nighttime behavior of the other," the website noted.
Myth: “Babies can have a secure attachment bond with more than one person.” Fact: Babies form a secure attachment with only one person – the person who spends the most time caring for them. However, they can bond or connect in a loving way with all those people who take care of them.
Studies have shown that infants as young as one month-old sense when a parent is depressed or angry and are affected by the parent's mood. Understanding that even infants are affected by adult emotions can help parents do their best in supporting their child's healthy development.
Even fetal olfactory learning seems to occur and breast odors from the mother exert a pheromone-like effect at the newborn's first attempt to locate the nipple. Newborns are generally responsive to breast odors produced by lactating women.
Mommy scent is soothing because the emotions associated with Mama become attached to her scent such that her scent acts as an emotional proxy for Mama herself. A keen observer on a maternity ward would quickly recognize the amazing succor of Mommy's smell.
Children are naturally curious and they are also drawn to people who feel 'good' to them or who are different and intriguing. They are sensitive and pick up on people's energy. How lovely that you are giving off a vibe that makes them feel safe enough to want to investigate more.
Babies as young as six months can distinguish between good and bad people, according to a study in which babies observed characters being helpful or unhelpful.
And babies don't just detect our tension. They are negatively affected by it. It's one more reason to look after your own well-being, and calm down before interacting with your child.
In short, yes: Babies do feel love. Even though it will be quite a while before they're able to verbalize their feelings, they can and do understand emotional attachment. Affection, for example can be felt.
Between 4-7 months of age, babies develop a sense of "object permanence." They're realizing that things and people exist even when they're out of sight. Babies learn that when they can't see mom or dad, that means they've gone away.
If you watch a new mom and her baby, it's easy to see that the little one responds to mother's touch. That responsiveness actually begins before birth. Researchers in Scotland compared fetal responses when pregnant women spoke to their babies or rubbed their bellies.
A common blend for relaxation is lavender and chamomile, which has been found to reduce anxiety and promote sleep. Everyone has their own response to different smells, so trying a few different scents or blends of essential oils can help you find the most relaxing ones for you.
Four aromatherapy oils have been determined to be both safe and effective for use with children over age 5: lavender, peppermint, orange and ginger. Of these, lavender is the one Battista suggests trying first. Many children like the smell, and it is generally effective in calming a child who is anxious.
Lavender is one of the most popular scents for relaxing and falling asleep, and with good reason. This fragrance oil has many calming properties, and it can help release tension, soothe racing thoughts and help you unwind.
They're curious about the world, and everything is new to them. They want to interact with people and be social. Your baby may be staring as an early form of communication between them and the huge world around them.
This is how your baby's brain grows. There is a lot of activity happening in their brain during light sleep, and their body often reacts to this stimulation by moving, twitching, making lots of noises and facial expressions including smiles.
Breastfeeding provides not only the best nutrition for infants, but is also important for their developing brain. Breastfed babies are held a lot and because of this, breastfeeding has been shown to enhance bonding with their mother.
From birth, babies have good hearing and sense of smell, which is how they discriminate one person from another, and they respond more favorably to a human voice, to a human face and to human touch than to other such stimuli. Newborn babies may develop a preference for a familiar person to care for them early on.
Given this exposure, your baby learns to recognize your face. Studies have shown that by three months of age your baby can discriminate between their mother's face and the face of a stranger.
Babies with a 'Difficult' temperament (those who eat and sleep irregularly and who reject new experiences) are likely to have insecure-ambivalent attachments. In conclusion, the most complete explanation of why children develop different attachment types would be an interactionist theory.
Research has shown that, during pregnancy, your baby feels what you feel—and with the same intensity. That means if you're crying, your baby feels the same emotion, as if it's their own.
They stare at you to gain attention or to figure out if they recognize you. On the other hand, spiritual meaning is attached to a baby's stare. Spiritually, it is believed that a baby's stare brings good luck. Whatever it is, please pay attention to the message they are trying to convey.
“For instance, a baby may not remember explicitly the time they were yelled at in the kitchen booster seat when they were 6 months old, but their body remembers the way it recoiled, the way it pumped blood to increase oxygen to the muscles in response to feeling unsafe,” Keith explains.
You might have heard that empathy doesn't develop until the preschool years. But that's actually a terrible misrepresentation of the evidence. Scientists recognize two kinds of empathy — affective empathy and cognitive empathy — and studies strongly suggest that babies experience both.
The news outlet, The Guardian, shared a study done by Yale University outlining that babies as young as six months are able to distinguish between good and bad people.
It turns out that the fact you want to gobble up your sweetie isn't your fault—it's biology. Scientists have recently learned that in new mothers, the body odour of newborns activates the centres of the brain that perceive rewards and pleasure—and makes those moms hungry for more.
Yes, newborns recognize your scent within days of birth — but can newborns smell you when they sleep? Though there are mixed reviews on whether or not it's a good thing that they can smell you when you sleep, the general consensus seems to be, yes, they can smell you when they sleep.
It turns out that the fact you want to gobble up your sweetie isn't your fault—it's biology. Scientists have recently learned that in new mothers, the body odour of newborns activates the centres of the brain that perceive rewards and pleasure—and makes those moms hungry for more.
The results showed that mothers were very good at detecting their birth children by smell, but not their step children. The children themselves were quite good at distinguishing their brothers and sisters over their step siblings.
Their research also argues that why your baby sleeps better next to you has a lot to do with the comforting touch of a parent. "A lot of mutual touch and interaction occurs between the sleep-sharers.What one does affects the nighttime behavior of the other," the website noted.
In short, yes: Babies do feel love. Even though it will be quite a while before they're able to verbalize their feelings, they can and do understand emotional attachment. Affection, for example can be felt.
A baby uses four important senses to help them identify their mom: their sense of hearing, their sense of smell, their sense of touch, and their vision.
Your baby is getting used to different smells, but can still find strong aromas overpowering. In fact, a strong smell can interfere with his sense of taste. If you're wearing a strong perfume, he may not feed as well as usual . Your baby is becoming more aware of different people around him.
“Many parents report that their baby's odor smells pleasant, rewarding and adorable,” Schäfer said. “This suggests infantile body odors can mediate affectionate love towards the child in the crucial periods of bonding.
Introduction: My name is Kerri Lueilwitz, I am a courageous, gentle, quaint, thankful, outstanding, brave, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
:focal(2542x1344:2543x1345)/tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/1c/ec/1cec119e-a69f-4e4f-a337-02884c90040a/gettyimages-1307179771.jpg "Smelling Moms' Scent May Help Infants Bond With Strangers (1)")
/tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/corryn.png "Smelling Moms' Scent May Help Infants Bond With Strangers (2)")
