How a newborn baby really can smell good enough to eat: Odour provokes the same reaction in the brain as tempting food or drugs



A newborn's odour is a 'chemical communication between mother and child'



And that it sparks the same reward circuits in the brain as when eating something nice - or having sex, say Canadian researchers



The smell of a baby excites a woman in the same way an addict craving for drugs enjoys his fix, say scientists.

A newborn's odour is a chemical communication between mother and child and sparks the same reward circuits in the brain as when eating something nice - or having sex.



Researchers say when a woman feels like 'gobbling up' a baby placed in her arms - even if it's not hers - it's a natural biological reaction linked to maternal functions.



The smell of a baby excites a woman in the same way an addict craving for drugs enjoys his fix, say scientists. When a woman feels like 'gobbling up' a baby placed in her arms - even if it's not hers - it's a natural biological reaction linked to maternal functions

Dr Johannes Frasnelli, of Montreal University, said: 'The olfactory - thus non-verbal and non-visual - chemical signals for communication between mother and child are intense.

'What we've shown for the first time is the odour of newborns - which is part of these signals - activates the neurological reward circuit in mothers.

Canadian researchers found the odour of newborns activates the neurological reward circuit in mothers

'These circuits may especially be activated when you eat while being very hungry, but also in a craving addict receiving his drug. It is in fact the sating of desire.'



Dr Frasnelli and colleagues presented two groups of 15 women - one that had given birth within six weeks and the other who had never had babies - with the pyjama scents of newborns while scanning their brains.

Although the babies were not their own the pleasure chemical dopamine shot up on the images of the mothers in the caudate nucleus compared to the non-mothers, says the study published in Frontiers in Psychology.



The caudate nucleus is in the centre of the brain and plays a role in reward learning. Dr Frasnelli said: 'And dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter in the neural reward circuit.'



This system reinforces the motivation to act in a certain way because of the pleasure associated with a given behaviour.

Dr Frasnelli said: 'This circuit makes us desire certain foods and causes addiction to tobacco and other drugs. Not all odours trigger this reaction.



'Only those associated with reward - such as food or satisfying a desire - cause this activation.'



Dopamine is also associated with sexual pleasure and other forms of gratification.

The study shows the odour of newborns plays a role in the development of motivational and emotional responses between mother and child by eliciting maternal care functions such as breastfeeding and protection.



The mother-child bond that is part of the feeling of maternal love is a product of evolution through natural selection in an environment where such a bond is essential for the newborn's survival.



Dr Frasnelli said: 'It's possible childbirth causes hormonal changes that alter the reward circuit in the caudate nucleus - but it's also possible that experience plays a role.