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.