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Neonatal cortical perceptions of maternal breast odours: A fNIRS study
Author(s) -
Frie Jakob,
Bartocci Marco,
Kuhn Pierre
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.15114
Subject(s) - medicine , gestation , olfactory perception , full term , physiology , olfaction , pregnancy , psychology , neuroscience , biology , genetics
Aim The aim was to determine whether preterm and full‐term newborn infants could process maternal breast odour at a cortical level. Methods Newborn infants were exposed to cloths containing their own mother's breast odour and freshly laundered control cloths for 10 seconds, while functional near‐infrared spectroscopy measured cortical activation in their olfactory processing areas. We studied 45 newborn infants born at 28‐41 weeks of gestation and divided them into three groups: full‐term (37‐41 weeks), late preterm (33‐36 weeks) and very preterm (28‐32 weeks). Cortical activation was defined as a regional increase of oxyhaemoglobin following maternal breast odour stimuli. Results Full‐term infants demonstrated bilateral activation of their olfactory cortices following exposure to maternal breast odour. Late preterm infants and very preterm boys exhibited unilateral cortical activation, unlike very preterm girls. Conclusion Infants born from 32 weeks, and possibly earlier, could process low concentration maternal odours at a cortical level, which suggests they were more aware of their environment. These findings could make a significant contribution to improving the sensory environment of preterm infants and improve bonding.