The infant/mother bonding involves all five senses of the newborn.

Two of those senses, taste & audition, are already active in the womb. Amniotic fluid has a salty/sour taste and the womb is a very noisy place. Four months into existence the fetus constantly perceives the sounds of maternal intestinal fluid and gasses, of the maternal heartbeat, respiration, gait and voice mixed with external noises.

The touch sense can become part of the bonding process during the seconds and minutes following birth. This is why it is so important to have the baby laying on mom’s abdomen where she can hold and massage her/him.

Most important is the participation of the sense of smell. It is a specific feature of the infant/mother bonding method of delivery that the umbilical cord is not severed before the blood circulation of the newborn has completely switched from the placenta to the lungs. The switching process can take several minutes*, while the newborn slowly starts to inhale by little breaths through the nose, each time having the odor of the maternal skin stimulate the smell receptors.

The taste bond involves the sweet taste of colostrum and breast milk. It is also a specific feature of the infant/mother bonding method of delivery that breastfeeding starts immediately after birth.

Vision is the last sense to be involved in the infant/mother bonding process. This will occur gradually during the first days and weeks of life outside the womb. Visual recognition of a mother’s face may occur earlier if preceded by the bonding of the other four senses

(*) It is worth mentioning that during the switching of the newborn blood circulation from the placenta to the lungs, the baby collects oxygen from TWO sources: from the mother through the placenta and from his lungs that gradually take over the whole process. That process involves the closing of an orifice in the heart and the gradual opening of blood vessels, as well as the opening and dilation of the airways in the lung. Meanwhile, the condition of the newborn is easily monitored by looking at the color of the skin, testing the muscle tone (in the legs) and  the pulse in the umbilical cord.
Precipitating the natural switching process by clamping prematurely the umbilical cord suffocates the newborn and causes the onset of brutal and painful gasps that makes the newborn cry in pain.