Don't worry - we can all come clean now; it appears there's a biological reason for what might at first appear as a 'bit of a habit'.
A study of 30 women, half of whom had given birth, led scientists to conclude - "The scent of a newborn baby really does tap right into the pleasure centers of a woman’s brain, whether the smell comes from her own baby or someone else’s, scientists have discovered. The new findings have been described in a study just published in Frontiers in Psychology."
The article goes on to say “For those first few months babies are mostly just needing to be cared for and we don’t get much positive feedback from them,” an expert says. “So the fact that the pleasure centers are activated makes it more rewarding at a time when parenthood is very intensive and depleting........That special scent buoys parents until the baby has other pleasures to offer".So, in other words, given that tiny babies are a bit like pet rocks, they are given this gorgeous baby smell so that we won't take them back to the hospital and demand a refund. Very clever human design eh?
