Did you know you can bond with your baby before she is even born?
Using your voice
In the second trimester, your baby’s ears are almost fully developed and capable of hearing sounds outside the womb.
Click here to read more about your developing baby
Sing to your baby—sticking with a song and sing it to your baby regularly. After she’s born try singing the same song. It’s likely she’ll remember and be soothed by the familiarity.
Read stories to your baby. Reading to your baby was she’s born is a great way to bond and helps her language development. Starting now, gives you great practice on reading aloud and helps baby recognize your voice after birth.
Touch
In a study titled Fetal Behavioral Responses to Maternal Voice and Touch it was found baby’s respond to their mothers touch while in the womb. Babies develop sensitivity to touch as early as 8 weeks in the womb! With a baby being so small at that stage it is unlikely the mother could interact with her baby at this stage but once things get more crowded she will be able to do so.
In the study, guided by ultrasound researchers were able to conclude that babies in the womb were reaching out towards wherever the sensation was coming from!
In early pregnancy, soothing movements such as rocking back and forth may be a way to soothe your baby. As the pregnancy progresses, then figuring out where your baby is positioned then massaging that area of your belly can provide some bonding experience. Moms may also become uncomfortable by the position in which heir baby is laying in the third trimester. Massaging a certain area may convince your baby to change their position, providing some relief for mom.
Calming Environments
The stress hormone CRH can transfer from you to your baby. So keeping a calming, low stress environment is also calming to your baby. Short term stress such as a bad day doesn’t pose any issue. It is long term stress where stress hormones can be detected in your unborn baby. If you’re pregnant, and experiencing stress please call us—we can help!