Can Babies Smell Breast Milk? How a Mother's Scent Helps

Babies are known to be attached to their mom. After all, they’ve spent 9 months growing inside her body and are born into the world needing the mother’s body to nourish and feed them. Babies crave a mother’s touch, so it’s not surprising that babies might experience some anxiety when they experience new people. Although secure attachment to the mother is important for a baby’s development, it’s also important and natural for the baby to bond with other people. Caregivers can help make that bonding experience easier for the baby just by utilizing the mother’s scent! 

Can babies smell breast milk?

Yes. Babies are born with a working sense of smell, and the scent of the breast is one of the first things they respond to. Within minutes of birth, newborns turn their heads toward breast odors, and those smells help guide them to the nipple. In one small study, newborns lying on a warming bed were more likely to move toward a pad carrying their mother's breast scent than toward a clean pad.

Breastfed babies learn their own mother's scent quickly. In a study of 2-week-olds, breastfed babies could tell their mother's underarm scent apart from other women's. Bottle-fed babies of the same age didn't show that ability, and the researchers suggested that the close contact of breastfeeding is how babies learn it.

Your milk's smell may comfort your baby, too. In another small study, newborns who could smell their own mother's milk during a routine heel prick cried and grimaced less than babies who smelled formula, another mother's milk or nothing at all.

Why is a baby’s sense of smell important? Scent is an important biological mechanism that gives us clues into our environment. Babies are born with a strong sense of smell that is key to their survival. Smell helps them find the mother and latch to breastfeed for the first time. A person’s scent isn’t just one smell; it’s a complex mixture of chemical signals. A 2021 study suggests a mother's scent may help babies warm up to other people.

A 2021 study in the journal Science Advances, "Maternal chemosignals enhance infant-adult brain-to-brain synchrony," looked at how a mother's body odor changes the way her baby responds to someone new. Mothers wore a cotton T-shirt for two nights. Researchers then recorded brain activity in babies (about 7 months old on average) and an unfamiliar woman as they played face to face, once with the mother's worn shirt nearby and once with a fresh shirt. With their mother's scent in the room, babies paid more attention to the stranger and showed more positive, approach-type behavior, and their brain activity was more in sync with hers.

It's one small study, and it measured attention and brain activity rather than long-term bonding. Still, it lines up with an old trick: hand the other caregiver something that smells like Mom.

Many parents already use this fact to help their babies adjust to different situations. For example, a mother might drape one of her shirts over her spouse’s shoulder while they give the baby a bottle. A baby starting at a new daycare might bring along a worn shirt that smells like the mother, for cuddles while awake. A mother’s scent has remarkable powers to calm and soothe her little one! 

Babies actually begin developing their sense of smell long before they enter the world. A baby’s ability to smell begins in the womb, when they can smell the amniotic fluid. After your baby is just a few days old, he can differentiate between his mother’s scent and that of a stranger. Both the mother’s breast milk and her body odor have unique scents that attract her baby. A baby’s sense of smell is vital to their survival, especially during the newborn months!

How to use your scent to comfort your baby safely

Your scent is most useful during awake time and handoffs. When another caregiver gives a bottle, they can drape a shirt you've worn over their shoulder or chest so your baby can smell you. Some parents find this helps a breastfed baby get used to taking a bottle. A worn shirt can also go in the daycare bag for cuddles while your baby is awake.

Keep sleep separate. For babies under 1, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a firm, flat sleep surface with a fitted sheet only and nothing else in the crib, so no blankets, pillows, toys or worn shirts. If you'd like the crib to smell like you, sleep with the fitted crib sheet over your own pillow for a night, then put it back on the crib mattress so it fits snugly.

A swaddle you've held close can carry your scent too. Use it only as a snug swaddle, never as a loose blanket, and stop swaddling once your baby looks like they're trying to roll over. Always lay your baby on their back to sleep, and share a room with your baby, but not a bed, for at least the first 6 months.

A mother’s scent is a powerful biological mechanism that is useful for caring for her children. If your baby is struggling to bond with other people or feels overstimulated in social situations, try utilizing the mother’s scent to help bridge the gap for your little one and help her better adjust to other people.