From the moment we find out that we are expecting a baby, instinct makes us gently caress our belly and speak through it to that little being that is growing inside us.
Although it is still very small and obviously cannot hear or understand us, the act of talking to the belly “from the outside” has a great emotional component for parents .
Talk to the baby before he can hear us
To do so, we do not need to wait until five months of gestation, when the fetus has developed the sense of hearing. A hearing that can hardly be differentiated from the other senses, such as the sense of touch, but which makes it possible for the first time to come into contact with the outside world.
In fact, surely those of you who have already become mothers found yourself talking to your belly long before that date, when you heard the news of the pregnancy, with the first symptoms… And you probably talked to it with the conviction that it would not hear you. baby.
Little does it matter then that the baby listens. More than transmitting something to the fetus, what we want is to give it shape, give it a name, make it real, feel it closer .
Strengthening the emotional bond with your baby
As the months progress, the womb grows and we notice the baby more and more, its kicks and movements… when the due date approaches, talking to the baby reassures us. It prepares us for that moment, to meet him once he is in our arms, because he will not be a stranger: we know his name and we have had conversations with him (more like monologues…).
Hopefully, the baby already knows not only the sound of the bloodstream and the heartbeat, but also the mother’s voice, which will thus become a balm for fear and uneasiness once it is born. It is the first bond between mother and child : before seeing your face, before smelling your skin, the baby already knows how your voice sounds.
He has listened to it while we talked to anyone, also when we talked to him; when we sing in the shower, and when we sing to the belly; when we laugh with others and when we laugh at their belly rolls.
It is not that the baby clearly hears the mother’s voice, as we can hear it. Because from within the voice sounds different, it is heard mixed with the rest of the sounds of the body and with the effect of resonances of the trachea, the spinal column… and the passage through the amniotic fluid.
Together with caresses, talking to the belly is beneficial for the emotional health of the mother and the couple , establishing an early bond with the baby before seeing his face for the first time.
Talking to the baby, singing to him, caressing his belly… will make the baby closer and prepare us for that great step of motherhood and fatherhood, which will discover many new and unique sensations. And once born, we will multiply the joy we feel when we see (now yes) that the baby is calmed by our voice, music, a caress…
Photos | gpointstudio – www.freepik.es, iStockphoto
In Babies and more | Twelve things your baby learns in the womb
