Mothers have always talked and sang to their unborn babies, if only to express their love and happiness for the new babe. Research of the past decade has finally caught up to what every mother knows instinctively. Babies respond to stimulation in the womb. They can hear and taste and respond to movement and sound. But can babies learn during their time in the womb?
Rick Gilmore, director of the Brain Development and Cognition Laboratory at Penn State, says, “There’s ample evidence that fetuses are picking up information from the outside world. They’re especially receptive to sounds from the mother’s body and the external environment.”
One influential study from 1986 had pregnant mothers read Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat twice a day. Once the babies were born, researchers checked to see if the babies recognized the story and their mothers’ voices. When the babies heard recordings of their mothers reading Cat in the Hat with its distinctive rhythms, they responded by slower sucking motions on their pacifiers, a sign they were paying close attention. When people other than the mothers read the story, the babies were not as interested. The newborns responded to both their mothers’ voices and to the story they’d heard in the womb.
Can learning be stimulated in the womb? While parents probably shouldn’t begin differentiated instruction just yet, it is true that unborn babies learn to recognize their mothers’ voices. They even recognize theme songs from television programs their moms watched while pregnant. Studies on babies who received stimulation while in the womb report that these babies have enhanced development of their senses such as sight, hearing and movement. Researchers in child development find that stimulated prenatal babies reveal superior learning capabilities later in life.
Prenatal stimulation also seems to affect intelligence and IQ. Dr. Beatriz Manrique’s study called “Project Family,” tested prenatal stimulated babies at the age of three and found these babies exhibited an average of 14 IQ points higher than children who were not stimulated. When parents stimulate their unborn babies, they strongly bond with the child, which leads to more stability and happiness after the child is born.
Babies hear and respond best to their mother’s voices. According to Gilmore’s report at Research Penn State, if a mother is bilingual, and talks to her baby in both languages, the baby’s brain might respond to the stimuli by enhancing the baby’s ability to learn those languages after birth.
If you want to breastfeed your baby, you will most probably need a breast pump. Although there are numerous breast pumps, including manual and electric pumps, I would say – based on my experience – that the Medela Pump in Style Advanced – is the best out there.
I must say, that I have tried numerous breast pumps, but is the only one that was indeed helpful. I first tried to use a basic manual pump, but it was extremely frustrating as I was unable to maintain my milk flowing. After a while, I have tried to use an electric pump, which seemed to be better. However, I was able to keep my milk flow only for a rather short time. Additionally, the unnatural feel of these machines affected me in some way and made things more difficult.
Eventually, I have decided to perform some research on the internet about efficient breast pumps. The Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breastpump was extremely popular. This costs more than a manual pump, but it is preferable to spend a bit more money on something good rather than spending money on several ones which fail to work.
One of the most impressive features of this breast pump is that imitates the natural suckling patterns of a baby. First, in the stimulation phase, it mimics the quick and short suckling of a baby to start milk flow and then, in the expression phase, the suckling gets more deep and slow.
It is a highly user-friendly breast pump, as it has battery pack (for mobility) and extremely convenient adjustable vacuum and speed. This pump is not just the best one, but it is perfectly safe for you and your baby as well, because all major parts of the pump are BDA/DEHP free.
The pump comes with a nice backpack and various extras, such as the collection containers and lids for the milk, battery pack, removable cooler carrier, breast shields, a cooling element and useful information on breastfeeding. Please not that the batteries (8 AA) are not included in the price.
This article was provided by Stan, the webmaster of breast pump reviews and top rated breast pumps blog.
When your baby gets fussy during the first year of life, music can be the perfect way to soothe and calm him. Many harried parents find that nothing works to calm their fussy babies until they started playing music for them. That’s because music does have properties of calmness.
There are specific distinct sounds that calm even the fussiest of babies. These are sounds like white noise and nature as well as music. Even if your baby is already calm, music can still be helpful. It encourages feelings of calmness and peacefulness. Just a few minutes of music daily is all your baby needs to start looking forward to it.
It’s not complicated to introduce music to your baby. You don’t have to search for a perfect song or a specific kind of music. Just begin by letting your baby hear YOUR favorite songs. It doesn’t matter what you play. Your baby will listen and get in a good mood by listening to the music.
In addition to the music you can introduce to your baby, there are literally hundreds of thousands of CDs available for you to buy that are full of lullabies and baby songs. These are perfect to play for your baby at the end of the day when you’re trying to help him wind down and relax before bedtime.
There are other benefits of playing music for your baby besides just calming a fussy and crying baby. They include:
• Introducing babies to musical sounds
• Enhances your baby’s cognitive skills and behavior
• Relieving stress for the whole family
• Stimulating curiosity as well as an interest in music
Give yourself time to find a variety of musical CDs to play for your baby. Soon, you’ll be able to tell which music your baby likes the most. That’s the music you can use when your baby is the most fussy or is crying for no apparent reason. You’ll notice a huge difference in your baby when you’re playing music that he truly enjoys.
Take the time to choose your baby’s CDs carefully. It should be simple to do if you’ve been paying attention to the type of music your baby has been responding to up to this point. You’ll just choose the CDs that fit into that category and you’ll have a happy baby.
Article written by Parekh, the webmaster of best breast pump and Medela Symphony breast pump review blog.
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