What could be more intimate and powerful than the scent of a memory? Familiar and personal, it is the one that soothes, makes you smile, evokes nostalgia, or even brings comfort to the heart. In every case, emotion is linked to scent, such as the smell of madeleines or that of a mother: this is called olfactory memory. Here, Élhée has chosen to harness the evocative power of baby perfume to further strengthen the mother-child bond.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Olfactory memory or the sensation of emotions
• Scents and childhood memories
• Baby perfume, a sensory delicacy
• Élhée care water, a natural fragrance for babies and their moms
• The importance of scents in children's sensory development

Olfactory memory, or the sensation of emotions

Olfactory memory is the kind that retains every important scent due to its strength, recurrence, or association with a person or significant event. Olfactory memory is therefore a memory rich in emotions.

It is also arguably the most lasting and powerful. The recollection of a happy olfactory memory actually has a calming effect, measurable by slower heartbeats and a more relaxed breathing rhythm.

Why does this happen? Perhaps because the olfactory cortex intertwines both with the area of instinctive emotions (amygdala) and with the one responsible for memory (hippocampus).

Scents and childhood memories

Especially stimulated during childhood, olfactory memory records certain scents that will always evoke the same memories throughout life. Your grandparents’ house, your favorite blankie, the fields around your home, dad’s aftershave, mom’s perfume… so many emotional scents that are indelible.

Directly connected to the brain, the sense of smell creates a bridge between past and present. Like a real sensory and time journey, olfactory memory gives you the ability, in your mind, to be wherever you wish you could stay. From your mother's breast to your grandmother’s kitchen, scents suspend time for the best moments.

Even though the sense of smell is sometimes underestimated, childhood scents are truly gateways to a happy past.

For babies, smell is one of the very first senses to develop. In the womb, between the 8th and 11th weeks of pregnancy, the receptors and brain areas related to odors appear. However, it’s not until the 7th month that the baby will experience their first scents firsthand.

Baby perfume, a sensory delicacy

A baby's scent is unique. For their mom, it may be the most intoxicating and addictive scent there is. However, there are also other gentle and natural fragrances that can bring true wellness to your child.

For this, baby perfume should be alcohol-free, feature a delicate fragrance, and be used in subtle touches. In fact, wouldn’t the best thing be to use the same perfume for both baby and mom?

Élhée care water, a natural fragrance for babies and their moms

At Élhée, we have always focused on the healthiness and sensory nature of our baby products. Today, anti-colic bottles, trainer cups, and physiological nipples echo our new natural milky water.

Developed using natural extracts, water, and emulsified olive oil, Élhée milky water respects even the most sensitive skin and can be used from birth. This unique composition, consistent with Clean Beauty standards, allowed us to design an innovative texture directly inspired by breast milk.

White musk and clementine, the gentle and fresh notes in our care water, combine deliciousness, tenderness, emotion, and lightness in a scented water for baby to share with mom.

Baby perfume and its benefits

The first scent registered in your baby's sensory catalog is yours—the smell of your neck, your chest. It soothes your baby and brings a smile to their tiny face every time you reunite.

Gradually, other scents join in: the milk your baby drinks, their blankie they sleep with, and also the scent of their bottle, a transitional and intimate object par excellence.

Because childhood is the period when olfactory memory is enriched the most, giving your baby a perfume is also helping them create additional memories that will stay with them for life. Just like the madeleine de Proust, Élhée care water acts as true comfort, directly and forever linked to childhood memories.

On the consistency of scents and childhood

The first three years of a child’s life form the foundation for the years ahead. During this time, babies need stability and reference points to grow up feeling confident and serene. Changing perfume—yours or theirs—can then be experienced as a disruption, because this is, among other things, what babies use to orient themselves in their environment.

When used regularly, scented water for babies provides true emotional comfort that is reassuring and soothing, even when you’re not present.

The importance of scents in children's sensory development

The world is made up of scents, all unique from each other. The smell of your skin, your baby’s, the smell of foods, milk, flowers, paper, the wind, toys… While your child will naturally get used to these scents, it’s important to name them early and encourage your baby to discover them.

How to awaken baby’s sense of smell?

From birth, guided by their mother’s scent already present in their olfactory memory, a baby can crawl towards the nourishing breast. It’s also known that infants more easily turn toward pleasant scents or ones that are familiar to them.

When starting daycare, you may be asked to bring a blankie or a t-shirt with your scent. During the day, it will help comfort your child.

To support your child as they make discoveries, every everyday item can help: from cleansing lotion for washing, to their vegetable puree, to their scented water and perfume just for them.

And because the sense of smell reaches its full potential around age 5, try a scent lotto: coffee capsules or cleaned-out yogurt containers filled and closed up can help you invent a parade of fragrances for baby to discover.

Olfactory communication

“Getting the scent of something,” “Can’t stand someone,” “Having a good nose”… so many expressions are attached to the nose and sensations. Just as a pleasant smell is soothing, another can serve as a warning: it’s all about the message.

For context, the scent of a human—the scent of your baby, or yours—contains thousands of molecules subject to many variations. Body odors can therefore play an important communication role, and your environment is full of olfactory cues—fresh-cut grass, coffee, rain—that are often ignored but can still influence your mood throughout the day.

The power of maternal scent

Thus, a part of the incredible mother/child bond relies on olfactory memory and its power. Researchers for Science Advances have shown that babies are more likely to smile at a stranger if she wears their mother’s scent.

Olfactory memory and baby perfume together create indestructible bonds over time and the years. Filled with naturalness, gentleness, and sensitivity, Élhée care water supports you in creating precious and lasting memories with your child.

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