New Baby Smell
October 3rd, 2013haha. Becky and I thought that we were just imaging this.
Via: New York Times:
Nature provides plenty of reasons for parents to adore their newborns. The giant eyes, the adorable coos, the flawless skin.
But in the days following the birth of my son in May, it was his fresh, slightly sweet and immensely satisfying scent that did me in. At all hours of the morning, I would take long, greedy sniffs as I cradled him in the dark. I’ve already forgotten the sleep I lost, but I don’t think I will ever forget that smell.
But what, exactly, was I smelling?
It’s a question that proved surprisingly hard to answer. And there is a sizable group out there, a Web search revealed, who insist that new baby smell is merely a myth, the lingering effect of scented wipes or an olfactory hallucination brought on by sleep deprivation. I couldn’t buy that.
Now a study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology confirms my beliefs, suggesting that baby smell is not only real, but acts as a kind of sensory compensation for mothers.
Researchers asked 30 women — 15 who had recently given birth, and 15 who had never given birth — to identify mystery scents while their brain activity was monitored. When given the smell of newborns taken from pajamas, the women all showed activity in the same dopamine pathways that light up after ingesting cocaine, enjoying food, or other reward-inducing behavior.
The reactions were observed in all the women, though they were stronger in the new mothers.
Response after forwarding to my brother:
“Doesn’t surprise me a bit! I am guilty of smelling (Name) ALL the time… IT IS AWESOME!
I think it has something to do with the breast milk actually. I think that the mystical and enchanting baby smell tends to diminish once they start solids.”
I’d have a look at oxytocin.