Preemies and Lullabies: Sing to your baby!

Are you pregnant or do you have a preemie? Both situations can be scary, especially if it's your first time. When a woman first finds out that she is pregnant, the last thing she is thinking about is whether or not the baby might come prematurely...not unless she has a history of pre-term pregnancies.

Understanding and being aware of the healing power of music with preemies can be very reassuring to the mother-to-be or to the new mother. Here are some important facts about music with preemies and newborns that you may not know.

1. The fetal ear is beginning to function at the beginning of the second trimester. In the beginning, baby hears mothers heartbeat, her blood circulating and other bodily functions such as digestive processes. By the beginning of the third trimester, baby can clearly hear conversations and lots of the same sound that mother is hearing.

2. Babies love their mothers' voices and are not at all critical. This is the voice they associate with nurture, safety, warmth and security.

3. When mother sings or hums to baby, the vibrations create a lovely and loving sonic massage for baby which strengthens the emotional bond between baby and mother.

4. Research studies have documented that babies who are sung to in the NICU and also in the newborn nursery gain weight faster, stabilize their vital signs faster, cry less and go home sooner.

5. Anecdotal research tells us that the songs that are sung to baby, often elicit a positive behavioral effect through the pre-school years, especially if they are reinforced regularly.

With information like this, I believe that mothers around the world will start singing to their child, born or unborn on a daily basis. I believe that the only thing that stops most mothers from singing to their babies is the belief that their voice isn't good enough. Mother must remember that her voice is the one that baby has been hearing for nine months or almost nine months and it is this voice that brings comfort to her baby!

What about CD's or tiny MP3 players? Those are second best. If mother is going to be away for an extended period (over 24 hours for a newborn), recording her voice singing the same half dozen songs that she sang before birth, would be a good idea.

There are hundreds of lullaby CD's on the market, including one you can purchase from me. In addition, you can sing any soothing, comforting song that comes to mind, including Christmas Carols, folksongs, pop tunes that are slow and happy sounding or best of all create your own! Songs and lullabies have been sung for thousands of years. What better heirloom could be passed from generation to generation?!

The musical, preemie pacifier

I thought I had heard it all when I was first told about the musical pacifier, but when I began to understand all the benefits, I changed my mind!

The smallest baby ever to survive was born just a few months ago, weighing in at just under 10 ounces -- the size of a large apple. When premature babies are born, they need special care. Now, experts say two new techniques are helping even the tiniest babies survive and thrive.

Aidan, Ella, and Zoe weighed less than a pound-and-a-half each when they were born, and they've been poked, prodded, and stuck with IVs and needles ever since. Now, these preemies are being massaged back to health.

"It's good for them," mother Susan Gaugh says. "It helps them trust people more."

Studies show massage helps digestion and helps these tiny babies gain weight. "It helps circulation, it helps with the immune system, it helps with sleep," says Maria Thillet, a registered nurse.

"They love it," Susan says. "They calm down. They're very relaxed when they get the massage."

This musical pacifier is doing more than calming these babies. The pacifier teaches premature infants the "suck-swallow-breathe" reflex. When they do it right, music plays. When they do it wrong, the music stops.

BUY DR. CASH'S LULLABY CD HERE

"They're quick to learn that once the music turns off then they need to start sucking again," says Amy Robertson, M.M., M.T./B.C., a music therapist at the Florida Hospital in Orlando.

Studies have shown babies who use musical pacifiers eat twice as much as those who do not use them. Experts say the faster a preemie learns to eat, the quicker their recovery time, and the sooner they get to go home -- and that's music to many babies' ears.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

Current Research on Music Therapy during Pregnancy

Effects of music therapy on psychological health of women during pregnancy.

Chang MY, Chen CH, Huang KF.
National Tainan Institute of Nursing, Taiwan.

I think that most women know intuitively that listening certain kinds of music during pregnancy really calms them down, soothes and comforts them. And of course, it's doubly powerful because when Mom calms down, baby calms down!

The following study just serves to further document what I've been saying for years now, "Music during pregnancy is a great way to calm yourself and your baby without ingesting potentially dangerous drugs and chemicals! Of course I highly recomment my own CD of "Lullabies for Mother - baby Bonding." If you listen to this on a regular basis while you're pregnant, the same tunes and melodies will calm and comfort baby after she's born whether it's played on CD or sung or hummed by mother. Baby loves HER mother's voice, no matter what, because that's the one she heard before birth! Click Here to BUY my LULLUBY CD.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music therapy on stress, anxiety and depression in Taiwanese pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: The value of music therapy is slowly being realized by nurses in various clinical areas, including obstetrics. Previous studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of psychological stress during pregnancy. Few studies have examined the effects of music therapy on reducing psychological stress during pregnancy.

DESIGN: A randomized experimental study design was developed and implemented.

METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-six pregnant women were randomly assigned to music therapy (n = 116) and control (n = 120) groups. The music therapy group received two weeks of music intervention. The control group received only general prenatal care. Psychological health was assessed using three self-report measures: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), State Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (S-STAI) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

RESULTS: In a paired t-test, the music therapy group showed significant decrease in PSS, S-STAI and EPDS after two weeks. The control group only showed a significant decrease in PSS after two weeks. This decrease was not as substantial as in the experimental group. An ancova test with the pretest scores as the control revealed that the changes in PSS, S-STAI and EPDS after two weeks were significantly decreased in the experimental group compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: This controlled trial provides preliminary evidence that two-week music therapy during pregnancy provides quantifiable psychological benefits.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings can be used to encourage pregnant women to use this cost-effective method of music in their daily life to reduce their stress, anxiety and depression. Further research is needed to test the long-term benefits.

What can the unborn baby hear?

Of all the questions I get, this is probably one of the top five. We know for sure that by the beginning of the second trimester, the growing infant's ear is functional. In the beginning baby mainly hears the sounds of mother's heartbeat and digestive sounds. But with each passing day, baby begins to hear outside sounds of talking, music, loud traffic and most anything else.

For that reason, it is very important to keep Mom's sonic environment peaceful and quiet. Even unborn babies can be traumatized by lots of loud noises, screaming, shouting, loud rock music, etc. Be good to yourself and your baby during this precious time of life for both of you. If you feel like working, that's fine, but just keep any loud noises or extreme agitation to a minimum!

As always, please let me know your questions!