Newborns nurse long-term memories of smells
Odors babies encounter while breast-feeding remain favorites as toddlers
By Bruce Bower
Within a week after birth, babies inhale new memories at their mothers’ breasts. Newborns who whiff a specific odor while breast-feeding, even if they smell it for only eight days, prefer that same odor over others a year or more later, reports a team led by physiologist Benoist Schaal of the European Center of Taste Sciences in Dijon, France.
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Like other infant mammals such as rats and pigs, human newborns easily learn and remember smells associated with breast-feeding, the scientists conclude in a paper scheduled to appear in Developmental Science. These types of odor memories form most robustly during the first week after birth, the researchers propose.
Odor memories acquired during breast-feeding can be reactivated and influence behavior until at least toddlerhood, in their view.