Maternal and Paternal Perception of Individual Odor Signatures in Human Amniotic Fluid – Potential Role in Early Bonding?

Abstract

Both human mothers and fathers are able to discriminate the odors of 2 samples of amniotic fluid (AF), one from their own newborn infant and one from an unrelated infant. Moreover, both parents are able to accurately identify the odor of the AF from their own infant. They report qualitative similarity descriptions of their infant’s AF odor to the odor of the actual newborn infant and to the odor of the mother, especially at the end of gestation. These data indicate that human AF carries individualized odor properties, the roles of which in the initiation of parent-infant interactions are hypothesized.