The olfactory sense is the first sense to be developed in the foetus.
It starts during week 7.  It is  also the sense that arrives at maturity before the others during week 25. Immersed in amniotic liquid, the foetus swims in a bath of emanations and swallows four to five quarts of flavoured water per day.  Before their first feeding, newborns show attraction for their own amniotic liquid and keeps this preference for the one or two days required to adapt to the new food source..  
Strongly flavoured foods, such as cumin, ginger, anise, when consumed by pregnant women can contribute to an interesting prenatal olfactory experience for the child.  
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The olfactory sense presents an important development in infant behaviour.
The first odour discerned by newborns is the smell of their mother, and it is that smell which will determine their behaviour towards others. The mother not only shares genes with her child, but also shares phenotypic features that are smells.   The olfactory sense of newborns is certainly their most developed sense. It guides the child, and the messages they receive make them feel secure. 
Only a few days after their birth, babies begin using their noses to receive all emanations passing around them.  Their smell is so sharp that they encounter all odours, smells that we are not able to smell anymore.  Their olfactory sense is so much more sensitive than that of an adult. Even though they do not yet know how to express themselves verbally to communicate their senses, newborns react to odours through motor reactions of the respiratory or cardiac rhythm changes.  
Babies less than two weeks old orient themselves automatically towards maternal odours.  They will learn to recognize their mother by her smell, which they will prefer to any other smell and will bond with it; this process gives them the security they need to live. 

It could be said that newborns “see” with their noses.  
When they grow older, children will use their sight as their primary sense and the olfactory sense appears last.  This is why it is important to preserve their olfactory sense, encouraging them to smell as often possible. This will prevent them to lose this important sense and feel insecure in the future. 
“Les Ateliers des Petits Nez” (Workshops for Little Noses) pilot project proposes olfactory menus to nurseries and kindergartens.
With the support and the involvement of master chefs, IPF proposed the food needs of the child and to the development of their olfactory perceptions. Menus should comply with local dietary directives and also budgetary and organisational instructions. 

Menus are composed such in a way, not to mix ingredients. 
They can be ground, but only ground separately to not mingle fragrances, allowing children to discover them one by one.
Chefs are different for each country, so in order to respect the children’s food culture, in our course we don't give you recipes but we will list the ailments adapted to baby and child development.
It has been proven scientifically that the sense of taste is 85% olfactory. This training will not only preserve and awaken children’s olfactory sense, but also their tasting curiosity and a good food habit.
​Children will then learn from the youngest age to associate all of their senses together starting from the olfactory sense.

More info about the course

The Olfactory Sense is the First Sense to Begin Development in the Fetus
I have always been fascinated by olfaction, which is why I spent time studying gorillas. 
Like gorillas that use 100% of their olfactory sense, newborns have the same powerful sense of olfaction. Olfaction is the most powerful sense of all their senses.  It is the first sense to begin development in the fetus, and arrives at maturity before all the others. 
Immersed in amniotic liquid, the fetus swims in a bath of emanations and swallows four to five quarts of flavored water per day.

Newborns See With Their Nose
The first odor discerned by newborns is the smell of their mother, and it is that smell which will determine their behavior towards others. 
The olfactory sense of newborns is certainly their most developed sense. It guides the child, and the messages they receive make them feel secure. 
Only a few days after their birth, babies begin using their noses to receive all emanations passing around them. 
Their smell is so sharp that they encounter all odors, even those we are no longer able to smell. Their olfactory sense is more sensitive than that of an adult. 
Even though they do not yet know how to express themselves verbally to communicate their senses, newborns react to odors through motor reactions of the respiratory or cardiac rhythm changes. 
Babies less than two weeks old orient themselves automatically towards maternal odors. They are dependent on their mother's constant attention to feel psychologically well. 
They will learn to recognize their mother by her smell, which they will prefer to any other smell and will bond to it; this process gives them the security they need to live. 
This is why we can say ”newborns see with their nose”.

The First Years of a Child's Life Are Very Critical.
The olfactory sense, (and instinctive sense, considered as too animal-like), was almost entirely rejected by our society.
In our present adult environment sight prevails over all other senses. Human beings have lost their olfactory sense and must learn to smell again. Olfaction is a very important sense in the harmonization of human beings because to feel good, we need all of our senses to be in balance. If the olfactory sense is not maintained, it progressively disappears sometimes completely when approaching old age. 
It is only lately that our society is realising how important the sense of smell is.  Still, many parents and educators do not pay much attention to their own sense of smell and are not teaching their children to do so. 
This is why, I have put in place a Children Olfactory Preservation Program starting at 4 months, when babies start eating solid food.
The first years of a child's life are very critical. Children’s sensory experiences help them build a bundle of emotions and sensations that gives them tools to grow and develop in harmony.  It is necessary to help babies and young children preserve their olfactory habits. 

How Can We Engage Kids To Preserve Their Olfactory Instincts in This Visual And Auditory Civilization?
How can we recreate olfactory education and re-develop olfactory habits? 
Les Ateliers des Petits Nez (Workshops for Little Noses) have been especially created to teach babies and children how to preserve the power of their olfactory sense. The International Perfume Foundation previously tested this Children Olfactory Preservation Program in nurseries and kindergartens.
Today I am giving lectures on this subject, and I have created an Online MasterClass to teach young parents, grandparents, educators, nurseries, kindergartens and schools to accelerate this movement. 

Our children are our future, they need to feel good and to feel secured to face the challenges of this changing world.