The Importance of Taste and Smell in a Baby’s Early Development

Babies are born with two important, well-developed senses that parents may not even think about: taste and smell! Sure, we read to our babies, sing to them, play Mozart, hang mobiles, buy brightly lit toys, etc. because we’re always concerned with our babies’ vision and hearing. But how often do we think about their sense of taste and smell?

These two senses are powerful, very acute at birth, and closely related.^4,5,9,10 And around 6 months old, they can suddenly take over our babies’ lives. Although taste and smell are interpreted in different parts of the brain, the neural messages for them meet in the same area (the insula).¹¹ Babies are like little sponges taking in new information from the world through their senses. This causes connections in their brains and learning to occur every day. As parents, we can use our babies’ acute senses of taste and smell to build these brain connections for new learning.

Baby’s Sense of Taste

At just eight weeks gestation, your baby’s taste buds start emerging.¹² Around 14 or 16 weeks, their taste pores will be developed, and baby can taste amniotic fluid.^12,13 This is possibly the most overlooked of all the senses, but early taste preferences can set a foundation for a lifetime of eating and making healthy food choices.^1,19 For example, studies show that mothers who eat a large amount of garlic or certain herbs while pregnant or nursing have children who later prefer those flavors.¹

Babies are born with the ability to detect only four of the five main tastes: sweet, sour, umami (or savory), and bitter.¹⁴ (Note: The fifth taste is salty.¹⁵) Studies show that they prefer sweet tastes over anything else.² For example, babies will suck sugar water out of a bottle but will likely turn away from a bottle of lemon water.¹⁶

Since babies are likely unable to detect salt at birth, they will drink salt water just as they would drink plain water. Scientists believe the taste buds that detect salty flavors develop around 5 months of age.³ This might not mean much to us, as we won’t try to add salt to a baby’s formula or breast milk. But it’s an interesting fact about how taste buds are ever-changing!

How Many Taste Buds Do Babies Have?

At birth, there are around 10,000 taste buds all over the tongue, throat, and inside the cheeks.^4,17 Our taste buds deteriorate over time, though. Most adults have fewer than 10,000 taste buds, with little to none left inside the cheeks.⁴ This tells us that the sense of taste becomes less sensitive over time and that tastes are constantly evolving.¹⁸

So, if your baby dislikes peas at 8 months old, keep trying! They may develop a taste for peas as their taste buds change.²⁰ How many parents have bought fresh organic fruits or veggies, then washed, boiled, pureed, and cooled them, and lovingly attempted to feed them to a new little eater, only to have their baby promptly turn up their nose and clench their tiny mouth shut? I know I’ve experienced this on more than one frustrating occasion!

How To Use This Sense

You can use your baby’s acute sense of taste to build new pathways in the brain by providing them with new experiences through different flavors. Even giving them a small taste of tomato sauce or lemon juice on your finger will help those pathways form. Also, consider offering different textures to new eaters, providing new experiences and oral motor practice.²¹

Baby’s Sense of Smell

Babies are born with a well-developed, almost primal sense of smell that intensifies after they’re about a week old.⁵ Babies also prefer sweet scents over sour smells and familiar scents over unfamiliar ones.⁸ The part of the brain responsible for perceiving smells is close to the area that perceives memory and emotions. Because of this, familiar scents often evoke powerful emotional responses and memories.^22,23,24 For example, I feel happy when I smell cookies baking or the ocean’s salty air because of the positive memories associated with these scents.

Newborn babies show a preference for their mother’s scent and breastmilk.^8,25 Babies will even turn their heads to a piece of their mother’s clothing with her scent on it. This signifies recognition of the scent.²⁶ So, you may notice that your newborn seems to calm down as soon as you pick them up. Your familiar scent most likely soothes them!

How To Use This Sense

Parents can use smell (and taste) to help babies learn about cause and effect and make connections to what’s going on around them. For example, if you always use the same soap at bath time, your baby will anticipate going into the tub when they smell that soap. This establishes a sense of cause and effect (the soap scent = bathtime!) and a routine.

Every day, the average person breathes in around 20,000 times.⁶ In addition, the human nose can distinguish 1 trillion different odors.⁷ You can give your baby lots of different scents to experience. Hold flowers, different foods, soaps, lotions, and whatever else is handy to their nose. This encourages them to smell and stimulates new memories.

The Bottom Line

When we think about our children’s development, taste and smell aren’t usually at the forefront of our minds. But by using all of our babies’ senses, we can help those brain connections form, making them more intelligent and aware of their environment. Introducing your baby to new smells and tastes over time can help make their world more interesting. It also allows them to learn what they do (and don’t) like — which can change and evolve!