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From:
MSWENIBCLC <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 28 Jan 1998 11:50:24 EST
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At the LLLI conference last summer in Washington, DC,  one of the
presentations was by a woman who does research with odors.  It was an
excellent session.  She told us that when a woman becomes pregnant the
amniotic fluid has an odor peculiar to the baby.  And that even the mother's
urine changes in odor to reflect this.  After the baby's birth the mother's
urine loses the odor that was distinctive for this baby.

The lecturer told us that if the unwashed newborn baby is placed on the
mother's chest that the odor of the amniotic fluid got on the mother's skin
and attracted the baby.   I wonder also if the mother's whole body has some of
that odor.  Haven't people spoken of feet smelling like garlic after eating it
or of smelling like fenugreek in general if they drink a lot of the tea?  So
at first the baby relates to the familiar smell of the amniotic fluid from the
mother.  Since this same researcher [sorry I can't remember her name]  told us
about garlic flavored breastmilk, couldn't the colostrum have some of that
same odor in the very beginning?  And then as the odor fades from the mother
the baby learns the  mother is the source of nourishment and comfort?

Someone asked about how a baby could smell while in utero. Possibly the
molecules that are responsible for odor that are present in the amniotic fluid
might still react with receptors in the nose even in a liquid environment?

This concept ties in well with what a friend of mine once said.  She had just
found out that she was pregnant.   She had been wondering why the smell of her
three year old son's hair did not seem as appealing to her as it used to.  We
conjectured that the pregnancy has somehow influenced her perceptions.
Perhaps her own change in body odor had influenced this.

The presenter also told us that when garlic is initially introduced into the
breastmillk that the baby's interest in nursing increases but then if the
garlic remains in the diet the interest wanes.  She said that the novelty of
the flavor seems to cause the initial increase in nursing.



Mardrey Swenson
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