A few days ago Miriam, my wife, surprised me with a question: "Do you remember the smell of your mother as something special?" And I, who stand out for having an incredible lack of smell, could only answer “no” (with a silly face).
However, this conversation was extended with other people and many agreed that they did remember the smell of his mother and that this memory, smelling her mothers' clothes or smelling her directly, gave them a feeling of warmth and security.
It would be something like going back to childhood, to remember those times when we had a lot of free time, few worries and our mother whenever we needed a corner of intimacy, support and love.
The truth is that the logic of this phenomenon as "animal" is overwhelming. Children are born with a very developed nose and superior to what we adults have. This level of development is explained by the need to ensure adequate food as soon as possible.
Within 24 hours of being born (which is when they did the studies, so it may be earlier) babies are able to show rejection of certain foods based on their smell.
Such is the survival instinct that they cling to the smell of their mother as if they were life (well, in fact, practically life goes). So you can see some samples of their abilities I leave some examples:
- If a woman washes one of the two breasts, the baby will prefer to breastfeed from the one who maintains her mother's body odor, the one that has not been washed.
- If a baby is placed on one side an object with the smell of his mother and on the other an object with the smell of another woman, the baby turns his head towards the one that preserves the smell of his mother. In this case we talk about the smell of his mother, not exclusively the smell of breast milk.
- When a breastfed baby is hungry at night, he is able, even if he has no light, to go to the breast and start breastfeeding guided by his sense of smell.
Once their motor skills are perfected and the rest of the senses are taking center stage, smell is lost by disuse.
The real dangers of today that can be detected with smell are few, and therefore the rest of the senses, probably more used, become more relevant.
By the importance of a mother's smell In the first stage of life, the recommendation, both for the father and the mother, and especially for her, is to avoid colognes and perfumes that add devices to the natural smell of the skin.
In this way the baby will have an imprint in the form of an odor that he will remember for a long time (as you see even until adulthood), that mother's smell that gives him security, warmth and love.
