Speech Development Begins in the Womb!

I recently read about a study from 2013 in which researchers aimed to identify if a baby in utero would react to songs played during the last trimester and if those babies would also react to the same songs after birth.  It is fascinating, they determined through an extensive study, that babies in the womb could not only hear and process the songs but that 4 months after they were born they had a continued increased reaction to the same songs.  This study was conducted at the University of Helsinki.  The main goal of the study was to map out associations with sounds in the womb as they may play into speech development as a baby grows.

Long story short, not only are they listening during your pregnancy but this listening may play a HUGE role in speech development later on.  Just another example of how your baby is NOT born a blank slate and how the cause/effect relationships with babies are not always quick an easy to figure out.  Have you ever chatted with a toddler who had an particularly extensive vocabulary for their young years?  Maybe you've even had the awe inspiring experience of a conversation with a 3 year old who is clearly able to articulate well beyond his years.  Perhaps, just maybe, these babies were exposed; either on purpose or quite by happen-stance, to music, songs and singing.

So I say...grab your karaoke machines, turn up the volume and sing to your baby who happens to be listening and learning!Read more about the study...