Or… any baby…
Newborns are not easy: they mainly sleep, eat, poo and cry. Nevertheless, parents love them like crazy. Smell is one of the reason why:
The Smell of Newborn Babies lights up the reward centers in our brain in a way other scents can’t. It triggers in the brain the Same Reward Centers as Drugs addiction, sexual pleasure and other forms of gratification.
So, when you smell your baby – you feel what a super hungry person feels when they eat 5-star restaurant food or when an addict takes drugs.
That is how good it is!
During research, when women sniffed baby pajamas, their dopamine levels increased dramatically. Their brain regions, responsible for pleasure, looked like fireworks on new year eve. And it is just the smell of baby pajamas!
The reaction to a baby’s smell works even if the baby isn’t in front of mom. Moms brains are flooded with dopamine when they get the slightest scent of a baby.
The research was very chauvinistic – as the brains of fathers were not tested. But other research shows, that fathers love and care about newborns just as much as moms – so they probably also get feel-good endorphins.
Scientist believe that it is “perfume of biological manipulation”, evolved to trigger maternal bonding. Babies draw in parents with their scent to ensure they’re kept fed, warm, and safe.
So in moments of super frustration – smell your baby.
In moments of sleep deprivation – smell your baby.
In moments of depression – smell your baby or any baby you find – anything for dopamine. Better (and cheaper) than drugs.
90% of women recognized their babies’ smell after 10 min exposure, after an hour – 100%. Mothers even find the scent of their own child’s poop more enjoyable than that of other babies. (If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.) Scent-based bonding goes both ways.
Babies start to recognize their mother’s scent before they are even born (it is smell of their mothers’ amniotic fluid) and that ability serves a very important purpose.
Multiple studies have shown that newborns as young as three days old can differentiate between their mother’s milk and milk from other women based on its smell, and prefer clothes worn by their mother.
Even just the smell of their mother’s breast milk had a calming effect on premature babies.
If baby smell their mothers’ hospital gown with body odor, or breast milk while the procedure is being done – babies’ pain can be reduced during procedures like taking blood.
No worries – it is not about the milk. If you choose not to breastfeed, your baby will still love the smell of you.
This ability to recognize mom play a big role in their social development of the mini human. As your baby learns who you are they begin to develop attachment provide security in their life relationships.
Each time your child cries – you feed him.
Each time he is upset – you comfort him.
It all build sense of security and helps to develop trust with others and develop internal ability to self-soothe.
So… now you know – you are good enough without even tryingl . More than enough. Who you are and how you smell from first hour of life of your baby – builds his mental sense of security and confidence.
