Babies smell like happiness: 8 facts about the scent of newborns

Mom and baby have a special bond, and it’s hard to argue with that. Scientists believe that such a strong attachment is influenced by the smell of a baby – it is special, awakening the best feelings.

This aroma literally drowns in tenderness, makes you hug the child around the clock and deprives the mother of all willpower. Now she is subordinate to this little creature and, it seems, even gets a high from it, despite the fatigue and lack of sleep. Moreover, scientists have not fully figured out the nature of this smell. We have collected everything we could learn about the infant scent.

1. It was once considered a myth

Even a hallucination that appears from a lack of sleep in young mothers. And if not, then they attributed the smell to powder, baby wipes and other cosmetics for the care of newborns. But you can’t argue against the facts: a specific smell really exists. Moreover, moms feel it much more sharply than dads. It’s like sleep disturbances – it’s been proven that babies prevent moms from getting enough sleep, but not dads.

2. He’s not forever

This smell will disappear in about six weeks, so be sure to enjoy it. Incidentally, it is precisely this short-term nature that makes it difficult for scientists to research. Try to persuade mommy to once again provide an opportunity to take tests or conduct tests! Yes, it’s easier to move the Egyptian pyramid from its place.

3. Mom is responsible for the smell

But it is not exactly. Scientists believe that the cause of the baby’s aroma may be the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus for the entire 9 months that it grows in the womb. The smell of this liquid can be influenced by the mother’s taste preferences. By the way, starting from five months, the child is already able to distinguish between tastes, therefore, it is advised to accustom the baby to healthy food even during pregnancy.

4. The secret of vernix

The second possible source of odor is vernix, vernix. The baby is born, all covered with this white cheese-like substance. Vernix protects your baby’s skin both in the womb and during childbirth. Now doctors advise not to try to wash off the vernix as quickly as possible. It is believed that it protects the baby from possible infections even after birth.

5. Smell acts on the brain

Mainly maternal – what to do, dads, mom and newborn have a really special bond. Scientists conducted an experiment: they gave women, including those who had not given birth, to sniff infant pajamas, and at the same time read the activity of their brains. It turned out that at this moment the same part of the brain awakens in those who have given birth or in the childless. Which, perhaps, prompts a woman to take care of the baby with tripled strength. True, mothers have this reaction stronger. Perhaps because pregnancy and childbirth physiologically alter a woman’s brain.

6. Labor compensation

So, women for some reason – evolutionary, perhaps more susceptible to baby scent. Scientists even suggest that the joy that a mother feels when inhaling the baby smell is designed to compensate for the difficulties of parenting, to make mother’s work more enjoyable. And this is not metaphysics: a baby’s smell stimulates the production of dopamine in a woman’s body – the hormone of happiness.

7. Energy replenishment

Another version that connects the unreal endurance of young mothers and baby smell. It is believed that thanks to the scent of the baby, the mother forgets about her own exhaustion, her hidden energy reserves awaken. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain how a woman can live for weeks on cold tea, erratic eating habits and fragmentary sleep and still not go crazy.

8. Deep connection

As a mother breathes the smell of her baby, so he breathes it. Therefore, children so lightning read the state of an adult who holds him in his arms. If the mother is calm, breathes measuredly and deeply, then the child behaves the same way: he calms down and falls asleep. This “mutual breathing” strengthens the bond between mother and baby.