Israeli hospital uses mothers’ scents to comfort premature babies during separation

Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel, has launched the “Close to the Heart” initiative to help premature babies and their mothers maintain connection during hospital separation. The project involves exchanging small, heart-shaped flannel fabric pieces daily between mother and baby, allowing the infant to be comforted by the mother’s scent. This method, adapted from Meir Hospital, utilizes smell, one of the earliest developing senses, to provide security and calm to premature infants. Occupational therapists Shira Itzhaki Cohen and Noa Shiff stated, “It is a simple but powerful tool that reminds the baby that he is not alone, and allows the mother to remain present and enveloping even from a distance.” Research indicates that a mother’s scent can stabilize physiological measures in premature infants and act as a natural painkiller. Dr. Amit Hochberg, director of Hillel Yaffe’s Newborn and Premature Department, added that the baby’s scent also encourages oxytocin secretion in mothers, reducing anxiety and supporting breast milk production.