If finding out you’re pregnant makes you want to sing with joy, don’t hold back. By week 16 of pregnancy, your baby can detect sounds inside your body, and by week 24, she can respond to your voice. Not to mention, studies have shown that talking to baby in utero can help her recognize words before she's even born. But a new device, called Babypod, is looking to stimulate your baby in a whole new way.
Babypod is a tiny pink speaker expectant mothers can use to play music for baby. But what sets Babypod apart from other prenatal speakers on the market is that Babypod is inserted vaginally. That’s right, just like a tampon. Plug your iPhone, iPad or iPod into Babypod and start streaming music right to your unborn baby. There are even headphones so you two can rock out together.
Since the uterus is a pretty soundproof environment, most outside noises, such as voices and music, hit baby's ears muffled and distorted. Babypod bypasses this isolation by bringing its speaker inside the mother.
Institut Marquès, an international fertility clinic, designed Babypod and tested its effectiveness for a study they published in Ultrasound, the journal of the British Medical Ultrasound Society. Researchers say they observed fetal response to musical stimuli when applied via the vagina to fetuses as young as 16 weeks. In other words, they claim not only can babies hear at 16 weeks, but they can react whatever they're hearing, too.
Bringing outside sound so close to a fetus raises some questions, however, and not all doctors are singing Babypod's praises. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) there’s no definitive stance on the pros and cons of music during the prenatal period, and docs have yet to agree on whether playing music through the vagina is better than using speakers on the stomach.
“It really hasn’t been studied systematically,” says Chloe Zera, an OB/GYN at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. And it will be difficult for doctors to come to a consensus until experts unaffiliated with Babypod explore its effects.
Also, it’s hard to quantify brain development in a fetus due to music. “The study the group conducted wasn’t designed to look at whether music affects brain development,” Dr. Zera says. “It only looked at movements that they speculate may reflect stimulation. We don’t know if this really is providing stimulation to their brain, and if so, we aren't sure if that is a good or bad thing.”
And while Zera acknowledges that your baby most likely can hear the music better with Babypod, there’s no way of knowing how loud it actually sounds inside the womb, which could be a problem. Without better-designed studies and clinical trials, it's possible Babypod is actually harming rather than helping your baby’s developing hearing.
Bottom line: Inserting foreign obejcts, like Babypod or vaginal exercisers, into your vagina during pregnancy can increase your risk of infection, especially if they’re not clean, Zera says. (Though note that sex during pregnancy is more than safe.) And because there’s no way to know if Babypod improves neural development, it’s unclear if it has any benefits that would outweigh the risks.
Activites that help you bond with baby can make your pregnancy more enjoyable. But until the science catches up, singing, reading and talking will make you plenty close, no technology needed.