Little Homeschool Blessings: The Smell of the Momma and the Littles

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Smell of the Momma and the Littles

Breathing in, I've often relished smelling my children, cuddling close and breathing them in deeply. I recently read the article Take it Off: Why you Should Drop Your Newborn's Hat and have been pondering it ever since.

"The olfactory system expects certain cues right after your baby is born – these cues are supplied by the smell of your baby’s head as you snuggle with him or her after birth."

Now I have always loved my children's smell. Not just when they were infants, but snuggling close to them. I smell them. I tell them I love the way the smell. It matters little how much older the children get, I still pull them tight and smell the tops of their heads.

I suppose in a way that ingenious system that the good Lord created of a mother being skin to skin with her child is never really lost as our children grow.

"Mothers and babies are wired by nature to recognize each other’s smell. Your baby can recognize you on scent alone, and you can recognize your newborn on scent alone. These smells cause the two of you to bond strongly, right away."

And if it is their sweet heads that provide that strong mothering instinct, that provides that safety and security for them. I contend (not based on science mind you, just a mother's observation) that it is them snuggling up to you, laying those same heads on your chest.

Breathing them in, they are breathing me in. They breathe from the place that nourshing life was provided for them as infants and toddlers. They find comfort coming to that place. As an adult, I find a kind of comfort with my head on my mother's shoulder (although, I haven't done this in more than 2 or 3 times in the last decade).

When Little Man is upset or hurt, I am homebase. Not just being on my lap, but he comes to be me head bent straight to my chest. Leaning into my heart, a place to be cuddle, nuzzled, comforted.

That special scent and touch bonding provides causes the mother to regain health of body and mental health. It helps your infant to regulate body temperature and heart beat.