It is by the 8th week that a baby in the womb develops his/her ears and earlobes. It is only around the 18th week, the baby in the womb is said to be able to hear but mostly the sounds inside the mother's body and her voice (Mayoclinic.com).
I am an advocate and believer of prenatal stimulation. Yes, I am aware that there is still no 'scientific basis' to back up the claim that prenatal stimulation (singing, reading, playing music and playing) helps in the development of the babies in the womb. But I saw the effect it had on my first child that is why I am trying to do the same with this pregnancy.
My husband and I read books (but made sure to include the same two books daily) to our Ynigo starting from 6 months into the pregnancy. We also made him listen to music (different genres too) regularly as well as talking with him. I also sang to him frequently. One favorite activity I did with him was that I would sing to him the action I was doing to my tummy. For example, I would sing, "rubbing, rubbing, rubbing rubbing, Mommy's rubbing you" (tune open, shut them) while I gently rubbed my tummy and changed the verb and action appropriately to stroking, shaking, poking and tapping. Ynigo and I also developed a little game that we would play. I would tap one part of my tummy using my two fingers and say, "Ynigo, Mommy's here" and he would either push or kick on the part where I was tapping. Then I would move to another art of my tummy and do the same to which, Ynigo would respond in the same manner. This was so fun and I felt like we really were interacting. In fact, we played that game while having an ultrasound and it was wonderful to see how he would either kick or push on the part I was tapping on.
Aside from seeing Ynigo respond with my two eyes while having an ultrasound, I was also made a firm believer because of these two personal evidences. Right after giving birth, the Ynigo was carried off to one part of the room to get cleaned up by the pediatric team. He was shouting and crying really hard. My husband, Jason suddenly said from our side of the room, "it's okay, Ynigo, Daddy is here". To which Ynigo suddenly stopped crying. After a few minutes he would begin to wail loudly again to which Jason would again calmly say the same thing causing Ynigo's cry to cease. They did this same thing around 4 times when our doctor playfully slapped Jason on the shoulder and said, "tama na, pinapaiyak nga namin, pero tumitigil pag tuwing kinausap mo (enough, we are trying to make him cry but he keeps on stopping whenever you talk to him)". This is because we believe that Ynigo recognized his father's voice. The pediatric team talked with Ynigo throughout the cleaning but he never stopped crying unless he heard his dad.
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| while being cleaned and was talked to by Daddy |
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| Ynigo less than an hour old, looking at his Daddy |
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| Ynigo 1 day old displaying head control already |
The second incident occurred about a week after I gave birth. Remember that earlier I said that we read the same two books to Ynigo daily while still in the womb? Well, we were not able to continue this during the whole first week after birth (I think we were too happy, too sleep deprived and too busy to remember). But on that day, Jason decided to read one of the books to Ynigo again while I breastfed. Ynigo breastfed comfortably while Jason read. But, being the very playful and mischievous person that he was, Jason, decided to insert words/sentences into the book that he was reading. What was amazing was Ynigo's reaction. Each time Jason inserted a new word/phrase, Ynigo would stop feeding and would even look up towards his dad who was positioned on top of his head and would only continue feeding when Jason went back to reading was what truly written in the book. Jason continued this for quite sometime until we were very sure that Ynigo reacted to the 'inserted cues'. For me, this does not only show that a baby can truly hear while inside the tummy and can even remember familiar songs/story lines.
Now, we have again started interacting with the baby in my tummy. And, we have also included our little four year old Ynigo. He now sings and talks to his baby brother/sister everyday. Not only do I think that prenatal stimulation will be beneficial for the baby inside of me but also for our whole family as it serves as a bonding moment for Jason, Ynigo, the baby and I.
You can start it too! Just make sure that you interact/stimulate when the baby in your tummy seems to be awake so as to not interfere with the very important sleep that your baby needs. Also, try not to go over 5-10 minutes of stimulating at a time so as to not overwhelm and overstimulate your baby making him/her too tired.
Attending prenatal classes is only a suggestion of mine. We are fortunate enough to be part of a pilot group for a prenatal program by Kindermusik, intl. They call the program, "Mommamusik" and it involves lots of singing, dancing and playing with the baby. We get to get massages from the daddies too!
