Pregnancy: Does playing music to babies in utero help brain development?

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Dr Jane Williams and Bindy Cummings

Music exposure before birth stimulates sound pattern recognition in newborns. Playing music for babies while they are still in the womb may enhance their brain development.

In this study women in their third trimester of pregnancy were asked to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at least five times a week. Another group of women did not play any music in the same pregnancy period. After the birth, the scientists measured the infants’ brain activity when they listened to the same song as well as a similar tune with some different notes in it, to determine if any learning had taken place. They repeated the study when the children were four-months-old. The researchers found that infants who had heard the song in the womb had much stronger brain activity when they heard the original song compared with the modified version at both birth and at four months. This research suggests that babies are developing important brain connections related to sound recognition even before birth.

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Want to know more about what you can do to help your baby’s development during pregnancy?

Read this: Doing this for ONE HOUR during pregnancy will make a MASSIVE difference to your baby’s intelligence. For your baby’s sake, find the time.

Dr Jane Williams (PhD, BMgt, RN(Paeds)) is the Research and Education General Manager for GymbaROO and KindyROO. Dr Williams is one of Australia’s leading experts on baby and child development. More on Dr Williams here.

Bindy Cummings (B.Ed(Human Movement) Hons) has worked as a teacher, child development consultant, early childhood development lecturer, teacher trainer and INPP & iLS consultant. She is the co-creator of GymbaROO’s Active Babies Smart Kids online series, has authored many published articles on child development. She is working on the content and development GymbaROO’s portal and online training programs, and the creation of new online programs for parents and children. More on Bindy Cummings here.

Resource: Partanen, E., Kujala, T., Tervaniemi, M., Huotilainen, M. (2013). Prenatal music exposure induces long term neural effects, PLOS One, 8(10) e78946.

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