Sing, talk and dance during pregnancy: It boosts your baby's brain growth

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Dr Jane Williams and Bindy Cummings

Singing and talking to your baby during pregnancy helps grow important areas of the hearing and language centres of your baby’s brain. By adding dancing you are also helping the development of the cerebellum!

Research from Harvard University has found that premature babies exposed to the sounds of their mother’s heart beat and voice – through speech and song – have greater growth in the area of the brain called the auditory cortex, than babies who were only exposed to the usual noises of an intensive care unit.

The auditory cortex is the area of the brain responsible for interpreting the sounds you hear so your language centre can direct what sounds you use to respond.

Unborn babies start to hear from 24 weeks in utero. Hearing is the most well developed sense at birth, however, important neural connections continue to develop right through childhood, particularly in the first years of life.

This research suggests that during pregnancy, it’s beneficial for brain development if you sing and talk to your baby.

At GymbaROO and KindyROO we suggest that movement during pregnancy should be also be added into the equation. When you sing to your baby and dance at the same time, you are not only stimulating the auditory cortex important for speech and hearing, but you are also developing the area of the brain responsible for balance and motor skill development – the cerebellum. Hearing, speech, balance and motor skill development are all closely associated with each other, due to their location and function in the brain.

So go for it! Sing, dance and talk to your baby from the time you know you are pregnant! It’s good for baby… and it’s good for you! This is not the only way you can be helping your baby’s development. There is a crucial bit of ‘baby prepping’ that generally gets overlooked and it is one of the most important things that you could be doing right now. Read more here.

We also recommend that you continue to sing, talk and dance with your baby after birth as well! These sorts of loving activities can have a profound affect on your baby’s brain development! Learn more about how to help your baby’s development (newborn to crawling) in our online videos here.

You can read about the research here: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/02/17/1414924112

Active Babies Smart Kids – Online Baby Classes

GymbaROO-KindyROO’s online series of baby classes is taking the parenting world by storm! It is highly recommended by doctors, paediatricians, early childhood experts and the Maternal Child and Family Health Nurses Association. This series is being called: “The essential guide for parents”. Join the thousands of parents already playing with their babies from birth, in the best way for brain and body development and laying crucial foundations for future learning. What happens in the first year, not only matters, it matters a lot! Introductory video below.

Active Babies Smart Kids online series – Click here.

Try the first class FREE! Click here to watch our Active Babies Smart Kids Episode 1 – Tummy Time

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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.