Bonding with your baby when they are in the womb can help their development after they are born. Your baby can hear and feel movement before they are born. There are many ways you can start bonding with your baby while pregnant, such as by speaking to them.
But if you don't feel comfortable with the idea, don't worry. While in your womb, your baby will hear and feel the vibrations of your voice every time you speak to anyone. They will have learnt to recognise and be comforted by your voice by the time they're born, even if you don't speak to them directly4.
Bonding before birth
Your baby can hear you from at least 16 weeks, and perhaps earlier. Babies hear their mother's voices most clearly, but anyone can talk and sing to them – your baby will love to hear from anyone. This helps your baby: to get to know voices, which will help them feel safe and secure.
In the last 15 years, though, research on human mothers and babies has caught up to show that my mother-in-law was at least partly correct: A pregnant woman's emotional state—especially her stress, anxiety, and depression—can change her child's development with long-lasting consequences.
But did you know that they're also receiving chemical, hormonal signals through the placenta? These signals include ones connected directly to your emotional state. If you're very sad, or suffering from depression, your baby experiences those feelings as well.
Researchers have discovered babies as early as 21 weeks gestation show a response to their mother's touch from the outside. In this study, researchers used ultrasound and watched fetal movements and heart rate increase when the belly was rubbed.
There are different cultural and spiritual beliefs about what babies can experience in the womb and, of course, this can be difficult to measure empirically. But, so far, some research suggests that babies can experience sound, some visual processing, and even pick up on a mother's emotions before birth.
This is normal. In time, your feelings may change and evolve into feelings of attachment and connection with your pregnancy and eventually your baby. And, it also may take a while. If you're upset about these feeling, schedule an appointment with a therapist or counselor.
Just like newborns, fetuses spend most of their time sleeping. Indeed, throughout much of the pregnancy, your baby sleeps 90 to 95% of the day. Some of these hours are spent in deep sleep, some in REM sleep, and some in an indeterminate state—a result of their immature brain.
The fetus is most vulnerable during the first 12 weeks. During this period of time, all of the major organs and body systems are forming and can be damaged if the fetus is exposed to drugs, infectious agents, radiation, certain medications, tobacco and toxic substances.
It may be soothing to babies, which is essential for their proper growth. A calming atmosphere is helpful to babies as they develop and promotes stress reduction. There have been studies that link early relationships between parents and their babies in the womb to healthy development in toddler-aged children.
And the bonus? Baby may start to know when their father is touching mom's belly. Babies can sense touch from anyone, but they can also sense when touch (and voice) is familiar. And by 24 weeks into pregnancy, dad can usually feel baby kick – but the exact time varies.
Benefits of emotional health during pregnancy
When you feel happy and calm, it allows your baby to develop in a happy, calm environment. However, emotions like stress and anxiety can increase particular hormones in your body, which can affect your baby's developing body and brain.
Babies in the womb respond to external stimuli, especially when it comes from the mother. They simply love this interaction which is why you and your spouse might often find your baby in a playful mood when you play the touch-and-feel game together.
Maternal stress during pregnancy increases the risk of the child having a range of altered neurodevelopmental outcomes. The stress can be of different types, and at least for some outcomes, there seems to be a linear dose response effect.
eat healthily and avoid rich, spicy and fatty foods. cut back on drinks with caffeine (like tea, coffee and energy drinks) sit up straight when you eat.
The word “lithopedion” (from the Greek lithos meaning stone, plus paidion, meaning child) describes a dead extrauterine fetus that has become calcified. Most cases (as in our case) have been discovered incidentally at the time of surgery, necropsy or roentgenograms of the abdomen or pelvis.
A mother's body chemistry and hormones alter during pregnancy, which can also cause her unique scent (an odor her dog knows intimately) to change. And it doesn't stop at sniffing out pregnancy; there's even some evidence that dogs can detect when a person has cancer or is about to have a seizure.
Sure, a month is basically four weeks, but they're (mostly) all actually a little bit longer, and by different amounts. There's technically 4.3 weeks in each month, in a very nonexact sort of way, and so a 40-week pregnancy is more like 9.3 months. That . 3 may feel minor and sort of like a rounding error.
For some moms-to-be, constantly touching, patting, rubbing and holding their belly can be soothing. For others, it's a way to feel close to the baby inside.