Play Music for Baby in the Womb— 8 Reasons Why You Should

You love classic Beatles tunes, your spouse loves ’90s jams. Maybe your family is into daily dance parties or playing instruments like a guitar or a violin or you made your own (crafty!). Even if you just use a cookie sheet and a wooden spoon so you can exhaust your energy before bed, music is always surrounding you.

Music is a major part of all of our lives and if you have a little one on the way, you probably already know there is no reason to wait until baby makes their big debut to introduce them to your favorite genres.

You’re likely talking, reading, singing, and playing music for baby just as women have been doing for decades. In fact, moms-to-be love playing music for baby so much that the top 10 titles of pregnancy music albums on YouTube have been played 35 million times!

And it’s not a trend. There is a wealth of medical and scientific research from all around the world that supports the many benefits of playing music for baby in the womb and we’re sharing a few of them with you below.

Babies Will Remember

According to new studies, newborn babies can remember music for up to a year after they’re born! That means the symphonies you play for them today, while still in the cozy confines of your bump, can still spark memory and interest for months after they arrive Earth-side!

Supports Brain Development

If your baby was born premature, you’ll be glad to note that playing and listening to all kinds of music can encourage early brain development. How? Experiencing music while in-utero (and after birth!) can help the brain make neuron connections, as well as assist with the growth of brain structures.

Stimulates Movement

Just as we feel the urge to bust a move out here, your baby is stimulated by music in-utero and you’ll be able to tell by the increases in their movement and heartbeat. Try it out! Use these Mbrio Clip-On Pregnancy Music Earbud Adapters and play a little tune for your babe. You’ll probably notice a big shift in their movement and get your kick counts in right away!

Mbrio Clip-On Pregnancy Music Earbud Adapters

Patented earbud adapters like these from mbrio turn your earbuds into pregnancy headphones, which makes sharing music with your baby easy and comfortable. Just pop in any set of compatible earbuds, clip them to your waistband, and go! No need for splitters, sticky pads, volume control switches, or iPhone plug adapters. Plus, when used as directed, mbrio is 100% fail-safe as the volume reduction cannot by turned off or bypassed.

Prompts Prenatal Bonding

Music is a key part of prenatal bonding. Whether you’re listening to a soft song or singing your little one a lullaby, the tunes disperse calming chemicals throughout your body and into your placenta, which has a relaxing effect on both mom and baby.

Helps Sleep Patterns

Listening to music in the womb can have positive effects on newborn sleep patterns and what new parent doesn’t want that? Babies who were played music in the womb are said to calm and fall asleep much faster when listening to that same music after birth.

Lowers Stress and Anxiety

Pregnancy can be a chaotic and uneasy time for many moms-to-be, but listening to music during your three trimesters is often associated with lower levels of stress and anxiety. Feeling on edge? Try sitting back, placing your hands on your belly, and playing your favorite soothing tracks. Take a few deep breaths and you may begin to notice your stress melting away— baby will thank you too!

Can Help During Birth

Did you know moms who listen to music during the birth process were found to need lower levels of pain medication, and in some studies, have shorter labors? There are dozens of playlists for birth available for moms-to-be or consider downloading a Hypnobirthing track or meditation to help guide you through your birth with music and hushed tones.

Can Boost NICU Babies

Music therapy in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) can help the babies keep calm, feed better, and gain weight. In many studies, it was found that playing music for premature babies can help reduce their stress, decrease crying, improve sleep, and thus, reduce their overall stay within the NICU. We love this story of how music therapy helped one NICU baby who was born at just 29 weeks.

If you want to start playing music for your baby, the best time is around 24 weeks which is when your baby can begin to hear. But don’t pump those jams too loudly!

“You don’t want to blast your music too loudly because all of that amniotic fluid around baby conducts sound,” OB-GYN Kecia Gaither, MD, MPH, FACOG, director of perinatal services at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in NYC told Monica + Andy. Instead, stick to music with a sound of approximately 50 decibels or less. “Women who are chronically exposed to sounds greater than 100-115 decibels were found to be at risk for preterm birth, low birth weight, increased congenital anomalies, [among other issues].”

You’ll also want to read our list of the Cleanest Baby Products You Can Buy or What to Pack in Your Hospital Bag for a Second Baby.

Is listening to music good for a child in the womb?

Every pregnant woman wants to bear and give birth to a healthy child. And he tries in every possible way to improve the condition of his baby. And often women have a lot of questions about what they do. One of the questions of interest is whether it is worth turning on music to a child in the womb. If the child did not communicate during the perinatal period, then a certain number of brain neurons, at birth, remain inactive. Most doctors recommend listening to classical music. How will it be useful? What kind of music to listen to? How to listen correctly?

Historical data

Whether it is necessary to listen to music during pregnancy made our ancestors think. In China, several thousand years ago, the sages argued that a person's life does not begin from the day of his birth, but from the moment of conception. It also needs to be brought up in the womb. From that moment on, they began to play music to the child at least once a day. And the fathers tried as much as possible to be close to their pregnant wife and talk with the child. Children who were turned on the music were born more gifted and had creative abilities.

When does a child's hearing develop?

By 14 weeks of pregnancy, the baby hears everything that is going on around him. So it is from this time that you need to actively begin to communicate with the baby. So how does a child react to music?

Thanks to music, the child becomes calmer. The work of the organs of the child is also normalized.

A child's reaction to different music is always different. He, like an adult, sad music will make him sad, and cheerful music will cheer him up. You need to monitor the reaction of the child and memorize his favorite melodies. If during pregnancy you include melodies for him, then he will have his own preferences in music, and after birth he will know which melody he likes. It will also fruitfully influence his psychological state.

Thus, we can summarize: it will be favorable for the child to listen to music while in the womb. The question arises about what kind of music is better for a child to include.

We all know very well that each melody affects us in different ways. So what kind of melody will be more effective in developing the mental and psychological health of the baby. Experts advise including classical music. Studies were conducted that revealed that after listening to Mozart's concerto, the intellectual level of the child increased several times.

But even classical music influences the emotional state of a baby in different ways.

The music of the same Mozart has a calming effect on the child. The music of Vivaldi produces the same effect on the child.

But the music of Beethoven and Brahms has an exciting effect on the baby.

You can also turn on the child, listen to the sounds of nature, birdsong, the sound of the sea. Such sounds will have a calming effect on the child.

As an alternative to the classics, you can play cartoon songs for your child. Such songs help to establish a strong bond between the baby and the mother.

How will the child react if you turn on rock music?

Scientists conducted research and found out that if the mother turned on rock music in headphones from the beats website, the child's heart began to beat faster, which indicates that the baby began to worry. Doctors do not advise listening to such music so as not to cause stress to the child. And also, if we turn to historical data, we can find out that Japanese doctors found that children who listened to rock were most often born prematurely or with slow development, even psychological abnormalities were detected that were associated precisely with listening to rock music.

How to listen to music correctly?

The child in the mother's womb is in the water, so he can hear everything remotely. You can understand this more clearly if you imagine that you are in a pool under water, and outside you are being told something. And the child is additionally surrounded by the organs of the mother. In the third trimester, the child may already hear well what is around him, as the hearing aid is fully formed. So how should you listen to music?

1. It is best if you turn on the music with headphones and put them on your stomach.

2. It is better to turn on high-quality music.

3. The session should last approximately 40 minutes.

4. It's great if you listen to music before going to bed so that after a hard day both you and your baby can relax and fall asleep peacefully.

It is important for every mother that her child develops properly. Music is a unique method for starting development while still in the womb. You can begin his acquaintance with the outside world at a time when you are still connected by the umbilical cord. It is important to remember about your psychological health, so listening to music should bring pleasure to both the baby and you!

Be healthy!

What to listen to pregnant women: the sounds of nature and music.

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