Abstract
BackgroundThe communicative meaning of human areolae for newborn infants was examined here in directly exposing 3-day old neonates to the secretion from the areolar glands of Montgomery donated by non related, non familiar lactating women.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe effect of the areolar stimulus on the infants' behavior and autonomic nervous system was compared to that of seven reference stimuli originating either from human or non human mammalian sources, or from an arbitrarily-chosen artificial odorant. The odor of the native areolar secretion intensified more than all other stimuli the infants' inspiratory activity and appetitive oral responses. These responses appeared to develop independently from direct experience with the breast or milk.Conclusion/SignificanceAreolar secretions from lactating women are especially salient to human newborns. Volatile compounds carried in these substrates are thus in a position to play a key role in establishing behavioral and physiological processes pertaining to milk transfer and production, and, hence, to survival and to the early engagement of attachment and bonding.
Highlights
Nipples and adjacent skin bear a pivotal role in mammalian reproduction: they constitute the minimal areas of the females’ body to enter in obligatory and recurrent contact with the offspring during lactation
Three decades of research have demonstrated that naturallyemitted volatile compounds from the breast of lactating women impinge on the behavior of human newborns in several ways
Results showed that newborns increased their behavioral and autonomic responses to the areolar secretion, indicating that they can detect them, and that they are attracted more to them than to the other stimuli
Summary
Nipples and adjacent skin (areolae in primates) bear a pivotal role in mammalian reproduction: they constitute the minimal areas of the females’ body to enter in obligatory and recurrent contact with the offspring during lactation. Their structure and function should be evolutionarily shaped to optimize, on the one hand, an efficient mother-to-infant transfer of water, nutrients, and immunoprotective factors carried in milk, and, on the other hand, the infant’s rapid learning of sensory cues related to maternal identity and to significant events maximizing individual fitness. The communicative meaning of human areolae for newborn infants was examined here in directly exposing 3day old neonates to the secretion from the areolar glands of Montgomery donated by non related, non familiar lactating women
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