Evolution of maternal mood state and of the auditory and olfactory perception of their newborn: preliminary data.

The auditory and olfactory discrimination ability of mothers, in relation to stimuli from their newborn infants, was concomitantly measured in a sample of 12 mother-newborn dyads during the 1st week after the child's birth. Both types of discrimination ability had a parallel evolution from one day to the next. The performances continued to increase from day to day, except on the 4th and 7th days. These 2 days corresponded to times when the mothers were more depressed. Half of the mothers were more skilled in one sensorial skill than the other.