Did you know that playing music to your unborn baby could have lasting effects on it? According to the experts, a foetus hears many sounds from the outside world. However, there is a type of noise that captures the baby’s attention most from moms-to-be is music. Although the actual impact of prenatal exposure to Mozart and Bach is yet to be established, initial research seems to show that your unborn baby may possibly enjoy and somewhat benefit from a daily dose of music.
Sounds inside the womb
A baby can start hearing sounds at around 17 weeks’ pregnancy. This is usually about the time the mother begins to feel the initial small flutters of movement and before the baby’s sex can be clearly known. The baby’s heartbeat will accelerate in reaction to sounds originating from outside the womb, including music by the 26th week. At 33 weeks’ gestation, babies have been detected breathing in step with music, which is an indication of their awareness of the beat. By the time the baby is 38 weeks, it responds differently to different genres of music, by showing various rates of foetal movement.
The mother-to-be should be careful about the kind of music she chooses during pregnancy. She ought to choose more relaxing music and avoid any type of music that evokes negative feelings such as anger or violence, comprising of heavy metal, hard rock, or rap. Besides, any kind of music played very loudly can overstimulate the foetus or even harm its developing ear.
A pregnant woman can use music as a means of influencing her thoughts and moods positively. She should listen to music which calms her, and content or music which lifts her spirits in moments of low emotional states. For instance, soft instrumental music, classical music, easy-listening or nature’s sounds have such a calming effect on the mother-to-be. In fact, they have been known to lessen feelings of worry, stress, and depression that may be experienced during pregnancy. The soothing effect of music is felt by the foetus, too, and can last even after the baby is born. Studies have revealed that several babies can identify music that they heard while in the womb and will be calmed by it later in life!
Sounds travel via the amniotic fluid and the foetus hears them in the 5th month of pregnancy, when its ears are fully developed. However, even before the sense of hearing is fully developed, vibrations and frequencies can affect the foetus. Each sound has a vibration that the foetus can feel on the fainter levels of its being.
Brain development takes place mostly during the foetal stage of life; this is why exposure to particular types of music is believed to boost brain development. It is thought that if a mother listens to classical music during pregnancy, the baby’s learning aptitude, memory, as well as vocal communication are enhanced after delivery and during its entire life