Does music affect fetal development?
No one knows for sure. Some studies indicate that fetuses can hear and react to sound by moving. But no one really knows what those movements mean because experts can't observe an unborn baby as easily as a baby that has already been born.
Can playing music for my baby while she's in the womb make her smarter?
No research supports this conclusion. You may have heard that exposure to music makes kids of all ages smarter in math, but Gordon Shaw, a research pioneer in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine, says these studies focused on older children, not fetuses.
For example, piano lessons may enhance children's spatial reasoning skills (the ability to understand three-dimensional space), but researchers only tested 3- and 4-year-olds (see our article on Music and Your Toddler/Preschooler). Some experts surmise that if music has this profound effect on older kids, babies and even fetuses may benefit from it the same way.
Others say newborns can recognize music their parents played for them when they were in the womb and even perk up or fall asleep when they hear a familiar song. But Janet DiPietro, a developmental psychologist who studies fetal development at Johns Hopkins University, says these conclusions are purely anecdotal and aren't based on true research.
Some also say that fetuses breathe in time to music they enjoy. California obstetrician Rene Van de Carr says he's observed a 33-week-old fetus pattern his breathing to the beat of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Van de Carr, who wrote While You're Expecting...Your Own Prenatal Classroom, says because the fetus followed the rhythm of the symphony, it's obvious he learned something about the rhythm and enjoyed it. But other researchers such as DiPietro ask, "What reason do we have to think that breathing in time to music is a good thing?"
How cute!
http://www.babycenter.com/0_music-an...-child_6547.bc
No one knows for sure. Some studies indicate that fetuses can hear and react to sound by moving. But no one really knows what those movements mean because experts can't observe an unborn baby as easily as a baby that has already been born.
Can playing music for my baby while she's in the womb make her smarter?
No research supports this conclusion. You may have heard that exposure to music makes kids of all ages smarter in math, but Gordon Shaw, a research pioneer in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine, says these studies focused on older children, not fetuses.
For example, piano lessons may enhance children's spatial reasoning skills (the ability to understand three-dimensional space), but researchers only tested 3- and 4-year-olds (see our article on Music and Your Toddler/Preschooler). Some experts surmise that if music has this profound effect on older kids, babies and even fetuses may benefit from it the same way.
Others say newborns can recognize music their parents played for them when they were in the womb and even perk up or fall asleep when they hear a familiar song. But Janet DiPietro, a developmental psychologist who studies fetal development at Johns Hopkins University, says these conclusions are purely anecdotal and aren't based on true research.
Some also say that fetuses breathe in time to music they enjoy. California obstetrician Rene Van de Carr says he's observed a 33-week-old fetus pattern his breathing to the beat of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Van de Carr, who wrote While You're Expecting...Your Own Prenatal Classroom, says because the fetus followed the rhythm of the symphony, it's obvious he learned something about the rhythm and enjoyed it. But other researchers such as DiPietro ask, "What reason do we have to think that breathing in time to music is a good thing?"
How cute!
http://www.babycenter.com/0_music-an...-child_6547.bc
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