Infants are thought to have characteristics that bring out their parents' "nurturing behavior *", such as their appearance, smiles, and crying, which are peculiar to their infancy.So far, many things related to audiovisual have been studied, but it has not been investigated whether the odor emitted from the body of infants contributes to daily care.

　A research group led by Associate Professor Okamoto conducted an Internet questionnaire survey of 1779 parents of preschoolers under the age of 6, and parents noticed the smell of their children or smelled it voluntarily. I investigated if there was any slack.

　As a result, it was found that mothers of 0-year-olds, in particular, noticed the child's odor during daily childcare and spontaneously smelled it. The parts of the body that mothers of 0-year-olds sniff most often are the baby's buttocks and head.It was found that the buttocks are smelled for hygiene care such as changing diapers, and the head smells good and is loved for reasons related to attachment.In addition, I found that I smelled the baby's forehead, mouth, neck, and hands when I felt loved and checked whether it was clean.

　From the results of this study, it was found that parents of preschoolers, especially mothers of 0-year-olds, utilize the smell of their children in their daily child-rearing, and the physical audiovisual system that has been focused on in the past. It was suggested that the chemical signals of the sense of smell emitted by the baby may play an important role in promoting the parenting behavior of the parents.

* Parenting behavior is the behavior of parents that enhances the viability of their children.In mammals, breastfeeding, protecting from danger, building nests, etc.In humans, affectionate behavior such as gentle stroking has also been pointed out as an important element of child-rearing behavior in forming a healthy parent-child relationship.