This is the reason your baby smells so amazing
Twilight star and new dad Robert Pattinson recently revealed an adorable detail about his life as a new dad, sharing that he adores the newborn smell of his baby girl.
In an interview with Vogue, the British actor, who is engaged to the actress and singer Suki Waterhouse, said: "I remember people used to be like, 'Oh, don't you like the smell of babies, but I thought they were just smelling the baby powder. But then I had a baby, and I was like 'my baby smells incredible.' "
As a mum of two, I can confirm that the newborn smell is a one-of-a-kind wonderful aroma that brings on the happiest of feelings. So what exactly is it we're smelling?
Rachel FitzD leading baby and parenting expert, former midwife and author of Your Baby Skin To Skin, tells HELLO!: "It is a well-known phenomenon as old as the hills that newborn babies have a ‘new baby smell’ that most of us simply adore.
"So many of us (and certainly all midwives I know), when they snuggle a fresh-to-the-world tot, press their nose to the warm top of their head, inhale deeply and sigh happily. We can’t get enough of that odour, and yet few of us can adequately describe it when asked.
"What on earth is it we are smelling and why do we enjoy it so much?" Rachel explains more below…
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The science bit
We don’t know all the ingredients that go into creating that unique new baby smell, but we do know some.
When babies are inside the womb, they live in a sac filled with amniotic fluid and their skin is covered with a white, creamy substance called vernix. The amniotic fluid is made by the baby and the mother whilst the vernix is made by the baby.
Both have numerous functions: the fluid provides a clean and safe space in which the baby can grow and do aqua aerobics to develop good muscle tone. It also acts as a protective cushion for the growing baby, and, in labour, helps to dilate the neck of the womb (the cervix) and protect the birthing mother’s tissues against damage from the baby’s bony head.
The vernix nourishes the baby’s skin, protects it from the effects of spending nine months in a warm bath and helps lubricate the way on its journey into the outside world (something that all birthing women can thank evolution for!).
Both the fluid and the vernix have a very particular ‘inside the body’ smell that midwives are very familiar with.
When babies are born, both they and their mums are pumped full of adrenaline and, within seconds of being placed onto the newly birthed mother’s chest, both baby and mum instinctively breathe in very deeply.
The mingling of baby fluids and mother’s hard-worked sweat draw their odours together into a once-in-a-lifetime perfume that entices them into a primitive dance of recognition and bonding. Even when it is not our own baby, our primeval self cannot help but delight in this earthy scent.
There are other elements too: as we draw in this fresh human smell, we release a lot of dopamine - our very own ‘reward’ hormone - and this gives a sense of calm and that all is well with the world.
But all this doesn’t quite explain why, having smelt her baby, the mum can instantly recognise its smell as different from anyone else’s child, whilst someone else smelling her baby just simply smells … a new baby.
Scientists have known for many years that certain genetic chemical odour signals help us to choose our adult mate and that we choose a mate that is as genetically different from us as possible - this helps to protect our species from in-breeding.
We are totally unaware that this is happening - we are simply mammals after all, with deep primitive drives that evolved over millions of years.
A recent fascinating study has shown that these same genetic chemical odour signals help us know that our baby belongs to our family and, this time, it is the similarity of our genetic odour signals that triggers our recognition.
The effect of the birth smells of amniotic fluid and vernix lasts for around six weeks but the genetic chemical odour signals last pretty much until our child reaches puberty, when it takes a break (well, let’s be honest, no-one likes the smell of a sweaty teenager!) before returning again, and then the smell recognition remains into adulthood.
Rachel FitzD is working on her second book and is a regular expert speaker at The Baby Show, thebabyshow.co.uk, returning to London Excel 7- 9 March 2025 and the NEC Birmingham 9th – 11th May.
