Olfaction in the fetal and premature infant: functional status and clinical implications.
This article considers olfaction as a functioning source of information for the fetus and the neonate, born on term or prematurely. It aims to present how odors are involved in the sensory continuity between the prenatal and postnatal environments and how they influence the earliest adaptive responses of newborns in the realms of self-regulation, emotional balance, feeding, and social interactions.Finally, it evaluates odors as sensory means to ameliorate the physiologic and behavioral responses of preterm infants to the adverse impacts of separation from mother, nonoral feeding, or iatrogenic distress.
Schaal
Benoist
B
Centre des Sciences du Goût, CNRS (UMR 5170), Université de Bourgogne, 15 rue Picardet, 21000 Dijon, France. schaal@cesg.cnrs.fr
Hummel
Thomas
T
Soussignan
Robert
R
D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*