November
2006
When Did My Baby First Hear Me? (click here to comment)
Some friends of mine just had a new baby girl and I was compelled to write this issue about one way that newborns can sense their environment that you might not be fully aware of.
NOTE: Newborns can and do use many more senses than just the following, but I am limited by space in this article, so am focusing on one I believe is MOST interesting - hearing.
First we'll back up to before your baby is born, for the capabilities of newborns don't just start at the time of birth. My mom likes to tell about how I had the hiccups in utero every night at 1 a.m., and that after birth, I continued to have them at that same time! Indeed, babies behave similar to how they behaved both before and after their birth.
If you see your newborn sucking her fingers for instance, it's likely that she did that prior to birth as well. Sometimes sleep times/patterns are mirrored to that of when you experienced sleep or activity from your unborn baby. So activities and rhythms of the day can influence patterns and behaviour of a newborn…
But did you know that babies can hear very clearly while in the womb?
It used to be thought that what babies heard was a muffled version of the outside sounds, rather like what you hear if you're listening while submerged under water.
What has been discovered is that unborn babies can actually hear extremely clearly while in the womb. You see, when we are submerged, the reason sound is muffled is because our inner ear is filled with air and the sound bounces around that.
But an unborn baby's inner ear is filled with fluid, which acts as a conductor. An experieriment included placing a microphone inside a womans womb that was designed to simulate the capabilities of an unborn baby's hearing. Researchers were shocked to find a newborn can hear even very specific sounds like footsteps walking out the door, the door closing and opening and clearly could distinguish voices.
In addition to the very loud sounds of mom's biology (heartbeat, stomach and bowel rumbles are the loudest) newborns can hear things as loud or louder and more distinctly than they will be able to once born.
So after birth, when your baby seems to recognize specific voices, and other daily sounds, it's because he does recognize them. He has been listening in for a long time on all the sounds you've been making, learning and growing according to what the sounds are teaching him about life outside the womb.
There are many stories of women having to leave loud concerts or violent movies because their unborn baby was reacting so strongly to the sounds. And other stories of babies being soothed by specific music, songs and stories that were played, sung and read to them prior to birth.
But that's not all…
Not only are they hearing in the womb, but research indicates that they are actually learning language and speech in there too! Researchers have taken "cryprints" - as individual as fingerprints - of newborns, and found they are chock full of the rhythms, intonations and speech patterns similar to the mother's, and specific to the language spoken. They have since found that before birth, babies are exercising the muscles they will be using to make such patterns in speech.
When the newborns from mothers who were deaf or mute were studied they found that the babies had a very strange cry, or didn't cry at all, indicating that not hearing mom's voice may have been like missing a speech lesson.
What did your baby hear before he was born?
What does your baby hear now?
Now, combine the knowledge that your baby can hear very well with the fact that they also understand what we say (see article: "Can my baby really understand what I say?"), and reflect about what was said or spoken about your baby during the pregnancy.
Did you talk to, or about your unborn and newborn infant? Are warm, loving, accepting thoughts primarily what she hears about herself? Did you, and do you assure your baby that he is wanted and loved, and safe?
If so, you have a very lucky baby!!!
Now reflect on your own experience. What might people have said in your presence when you were very young, or not even born yet? Are there any patterns you see in your life that match what you know about your very early messages?
If you'd like to explore this more, click on the title of this article. You'll be taken to a page where you can ask more questions, reflect and get feedback.
Let's talk!