The Science
The Science Behind Bottimals: How Mom’s Scent Supports Baby Feeding and Health
A mother’s scent has a remarkable calming and developmental effect on babies, both biologically and emotionally. Research shows that exposing infants to maternal odor can improve feeding, comfort, and overall health. Here’s why it works—and how it supports your baby through breast-to-bottle transitions.
- Enhanced Feeding and Attachment – The natural scent of a mother’s skin and breast milk stimulates babies’ mouthing and sucking reflexes, encouraging effective feeding. This makes the transition from breastfeeding to bottle-feeding smoother and reduces struggles with bottle refusal.1, 2
- Familiarity and Comfort – From birth, babies recognize their mother’s scent, which they experience in the womb and during breastfeeding. This familiar smell provides reassurance, promotes comfort, and creates a sense of security, helping babies feel calm during feeding times.3
- Regulation of Stress and Emotions – Exposure to a mother’s scent lowers cortisol levels in infants, reducing stress and fussiness. This calming effect supports easier feeding and helps babies manage emotional discomfort associated with bottle refusal.4
- Pain Relief – Research shows that babies experience less pain when exposed to their mother’s scent, likely due to its soothing impact on the nervous system.1
- Increased Health Outcomes – Infants exposed to maternal odor gain more weight, demonstrate stronger feeding behaviors, and achieve healthier developmental outcomes than those without exposure.⁵ This highlights the physiological benefits of incorporating a mother’s scent into daily feeding routines.
How Bottimals Helps
Bottimals™ Bottle-Loveys harness the comforting power of mom’s scent, making bottles familiar and soothing for babies. By combining scent with a soft, lovable toy, Bottimals aims to help reduce stress, improve feeding, and promote healthier growth for infants experiencing bottle refusal.
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