Pregnancy Diary

Why would mature grown-ups want to spend time trying to communicate with a fetus when he could be doing something else? Simple. It’s fun. Plus, it may be able to help you establish a bond with your baby even before he’s born. In one study, newborns whose mothers had regularly watched a popular soap opera while they were pregnant stopped crying when the show’s theme song was played. Infants whose mothers hadn’t watched the show had no reaction when they heard the music.

Some researchers believe that prenatal communication, stimulates babies’ brains, triggering nerve cell development, helping them process information more efficiently. In other words, they believe it may make babies smarter. They also contend that prenatally stimulated babies tend to cry less at birth, have longer attention spans, sleep better, are less likely to develop learning disabilities, turn out to be more creative and musical.

It might work the other way too, helping the baby establish a bond with you. This could be particularly important to your husband. Lots of fathers get jealous of the immediate connections their infants have with their mothers. But a good part of that connection might have more to do with the mother’s voice than anything else. If he spends some time “conversing” with your baby before she’s born, she’ll recognize and be more responsive to his voice.