Psychologists at the University of Stirling are to study how newborn babies use their sense of smell to successfully breastfeed in a new project that could improve breastfeeding rates worldwide.
Latching on to the mother's breast is critical for infant survival, growth, and health, however, breastfeeding difficulties mean that fewer than half of infants worldwide are exclusively breastfed for the World Health Organisation’s recommended period.
The Stirling team, led by Professor Craig Roberts, has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Discovery Award, worth more than £3.5m, for the project.
Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences
We know that breast odour is attractive to babies, and baby odours are attractive to mothers too, but we don't know what chemical compounds are responsible for this attraction. In this project, we aim to identify the attractive components.
Professor Roberts will work with Professor Vivien Swanson and Dr Dimitrios Kourtis in Stirling’s Division of Psychology, part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, as well as researchers in France, Germany, Poland, Czechia, Japan and Bolivia.
The team will investigate the role of olfaction (sense of smell) in the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding.
Professor Roberts, a biological psychologist with a career-long interest in the evolution of mammalian olfactory communication, said: “This award will enable us to describe the olfactory mechanisms that facilitate newborn infants' nipple searching and latching onto the breast in the first minutes and hours of life.
“We know that breast odour is attractive to babies, and baby odours are attractive to mothers too, but we don't know what chemical compounds are responsible for this attraction.
“In this project, we aim to identify the attractive components through an interdisciplinary collaboration with atmospheric chemists and using techniques they typically use to study air quality in cities or in the rainforest.
“We will also use a range of interviews, surveys, and focus groups with relevant stakeholders, including mothers and midwives, to identify sociocultural barriers and facilitators of olfactory communication during breastfeeding in a global perspective. Among other insights, we hope this will lead to a digital tool to assist breastfeeding.”
Practical interventions
The Wellcome Discovery Awards provide funding for established researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health, and wellbeing.
Professor Roberts added: “The longer-term funding provided by a Discovery Award enables us to pursue bold research questions with innovative approaches.
“This award should enable us to develop practical interventions and clinical recommendations that can improve breastfeeding success worldwide.”
The project titled ‘Olfactory communication in the first weeks of life: from chemical mechanisms to improving breastfeeding outcomes’ has been awarded £3,527,084 over eight years.