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Can Your Baby in the Womb Hear You & How to Connect With Your Baby During Pregnancy?

“Pregnancy is the beginning of all things. Wonders, hope, and dreams of possibilities.” It is true that with pregnancy a life-long love affair with your child begins. The early weeks of pregnancy can be really tiring and stressful; yet as your pregnancy progresses, you feel more connected with your baby. You would be surprised knowing that you actually connect with your baby during your pregnancy and your baby in the womb can hear you in real. Let us read more about this in the following paragraphs.

Can Your Baby in the Womb Hear You?

Can Your Baby in the Womb Hear You?

Mothers have long believed that their babies in the womb hear what is going on outside. Now, even recent research supports this fact. There is also evidence that babies in the womb may share in their mother’s emotions. Though since many centuries it was believed that babies may share their mother’s emotion; since past few decades using latest technology, prenatal psychologists have used several windows to the mother’s womb and have found that when mother is happy, baby is happy and when mother is anxious the baby is anxious.

Apart from sharing of emotion, it is now known that your baby in the womb can actually hear you. A recent research also suggests that babies started to absorb language when they are inside the womb at the last 10 weeks of pregnancy. It is also that newborns can actually tell the difference between their mother’s mother tongue and foreign languages just hours after they have taken birth.

As per the study author Patricia K.Kuhl, PhD; “the main message for new mothers is that their babies are listening and remembering during the last stages of pregnancy. Their brains do not wait for birth to start absorbing information.”

Kuhl and colleagues made use of a high tech pacifier that was connected to a computer that measured infant’s reactions to sound. They included 80 infants who were about 30 hours old on average, for their study. They listened to vowel sounds in their mother tongue and a foreign tongue while sucking on the pacifier. This is so because vowels are the loudest units in speech. The number of times the infants suck on the pacifier indicates which vowel sound attracted their attention. It was noticed that babies sucked longer for foreign languages than their mother tongue.

Now that we know that babies in womb can hear what you say, expectant mothers should have confidence that their developing child is making sense out of the sounds that she is providing for the baby. However, father’s voice cannot be heard in the womb. So, mothers must try more to connect with their baby during pregnancy. Below we will know about some of the ways to connect with your baby during pregnancy.

How to Connect With Your Baby During Pregnancy?

Check out some of the ways to connect with your baby during pregnancy.

  1. Massage Your Belly:

    One of the best ways to connect with your baby during pregnancy is to gently massage your belly. Make a note that this is safe to do after the first trimester of your pregnancy and in fact it is a great way to relax down. You can use cream or oil for keeping you and your baby relax and this may also help to keep your skin feeling soft.

    However one of the finest way you can spend time talking and connecting with your baby in the womb is by taking an aromatherapy massage. You can try adding 2 drops of lavender, ylang ylang or frankincense to carrier oil for massaging. This would help you pamper yourself and also spend enough time talking and connecting with your unborn baby in the womb.

  2. Go Swimming:

    Swimming is really a wonderful way to take the weight off your feet during pregnancy and also it provides a chance for you to relate with your baby inside your womb, as your baby also is floating in fluid too.

    Water provides gentle support and some welcome relief in the later stages of your pregnancy and also helps in connecting with your baby too.

  3. Sing and Talk to Your Baby:

    Your unborn baby in the womb is able to hear even staying inside you. From about 23 weeks, the baby can enjoy the daily soundtrack of your heartbeat and the growling of your hungry stomach. Slowly he or she also begins hearing sounds from the external world.

    Hearing the mother’s voice while the baby is still in the womb aids the baby feel more connected and attached to the mother soon she or he is born.

    You can start bonding or connecting with your baby even inside her stay at your womb by singing and talking to your baby. This would be truly rewarding when you know she or he can actually hear you.

  4. Have a Nice Bath:

    One more way to connect with your baby is to have a nice long soak during bath time. Just enjoy your bath time and also take out some time to pay attention to your baby inside your womb.

    You can run a warm bath, light some candle and also play soft music for experiencing a soothing ambience during your bath time. You can simply relax and imagine the picture of your baby when she finally arrive the world. This would help you be attached with him or her in a more devoted manner.

    If you are at your second trimester then a nice quiet and soothing bath is in fact the perfect time to focus on your baby kicking, baby’s squirming etc. You can get to

    know the pattern of your child’s movement inside your womb and imagine how big he or she is growing.

  5. Practice Hypnobirthing:

    There are Hypnobirthing classes which are designed to aid you stay calm and in control during birth or during labor. The techniques used here can also aid you eliminate distractions and completely focus on your body and your baby inside you.

    You need to visit a trained hypnotherapist who can not only make your aware of the techniques of hypnobirthing but also make you know about how to use breathing and concentration techniques so as to tune out distractions and connect with your baby.

  6. Go For Pregnancy Yoga:

    Pregnancy yoga or Antenatal yoga classes are wonderful way to relax during your pregnancy and also helps you focus on the body and also aids you pay closer attention to your developing baby.

    You not only learn gentle stretching but also breathing techniques that aid you during labor and also keep your body and mind peaceful and make you feel more connected with your baby inside womb.

  7. Help the Baby’s Father Bond too:

    It is amazing to experience your baby inside during your pregnancy. It is true that you can connect with your baby during your pregnancy. However, make a try to connect your baby with his or her father too. Help the baby’s to-be-daddy to feel your baby move. Let him know that your baby can hear external sounds and encourage him to talk and read to your belly. This will help the baby become familiar with her or his father’s voice too.

  8. Respond to Your Baby’s Kicks:

    One of the best ways to connect with your baby in the womb is by responding to his or her kick. You can do it anywhere anytime when the baby kicks. You can rub your belly when your baby moves and you can find that he or she kicks back at you. This is one way of connection where that baby is responding to you. This is a great feel to experience in deed.

  9. Take a Walk:

    Taking a walk is a great exercise and it also easily fits your daily routine in pregnancy. However it also helps you have some discreet chat with your bump as you walk. This gives you enough good time to talk to your baby and enjoy the nature too.

Few Tips to Stay Connected With You Baby in the Womb and Give Birth to a Healthy Baby:

  • Know that you preborn baby in the womb can think. As per prenatal researchers, it is true that you are emotionally able to bond with your unborn baby from six months on you and this is because of the hormones associated with your emotion that cross over the placenta. Psychologists say that mother’s emotion influences a lot to the baby in the womb. So keep yourself filled with good thoughts and positive emotions.
  • Know that unborn babies who are at 6 months in the womb can respond to sound stimuli. You can bond or be connected with you unborn baby so closely that they can be taught when to kick.
  • Know that stress hormone can affect your unborn baby’s personality development. So try to manage the stress hormone and help your baby develop healthy and fine.

References:

  1. Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M. J., Lee, K., Xie, X., Huang, H., Ye, H. H., & Zhang, K. (2003). Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition. Psychological Science, 14(3), 220-224. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9280.02439
  2. Hepper, P. G., Shahidullah, S., & White, R. (1994). Handedness in the human fetus. Neuropsychologia, 32(8), 819-826. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(94)90147-3
  3. Partanen, E., Kujala, T., Tervaniemi, M., & Huotilainen, M. (2013). Prenatal music exposure induces long-term neural effects. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e78946. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078946
  4. Kisilevsky, B. S., & Hains, S. M. J. (2009). Onset and maturation of fetal heart rate response to the mother’s voice over late gestation. Developmental Science, 12(1), 61-67. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00742.x
  5. Moore, E. R., & Johnson, S. P. (2008). Mental rotation in human infants: A sex difference. Psychological Science, 19(11), 1063-1066. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02201.x

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:July 24, 2023

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