Helping your baby rock in the real world

A MOTHER-to-be who relaxes in front of her favourite TV soap will find it also helps her baby unwind after it is born.

This is because during the final three months of pregnancy, the foetus is learning about sound patterns, including the music that buoys his mother’s mood, such as the signature tune of her favourite TV programme.

During this time, the foetus is also beginning to recognise the sound patterns that distinguish his or her mother’s voice from others.

Long before birth, the baby reacts to sound, touch and changes in taste and to its mother’s emotions.

These are some of the facts Professor Annette Karmiloff Smith will discuss at the launch of a Pampers World of Babies event today, where a specially designed simulation unit will allow parents to experience the different stages of babies’ development from womb to age four.

Prof Karmiloff Smith, a Pampers Institute member and head of the Neurocognitive Development Unit at the Institute of Child Health in London, said babies’ reaction to sound during pregnancy can be measured by monitoring leg kicks and heart rate. After birth, babies given headphones were shown to suck harder on their dummies when hearing their mother’s voice or music she regularly exposed them to while in the womb.

They also react to the mother’s mood in the womb.

“Our bodies give out chemicals which affect our moods and these effect the foetus through the placenta,” Prof Karmiloff Smith said.

Sleep is highly significant for a baby’s cognitive development during the first 12 months of life.

“They spend a lot of time sleeping, during which we believe they are consolidating the memories of their life experiences.

“They don’t get a chance to do this during the day because they are being bombarded by all sorts of stimuli, so often the brain is more active during sleep in the early months of life,” Prof Karmiloff Smith said.

To aid their babies’ cognitive development, parents should continually expose them to lots of stimuli.

“Also, you should allow them put anything that is safe into their mouth, because at this time, the nerve ends in their mouths are far more sensitive than in their hands, so putting things in their mouth helps them find out what they are,” she added.

To help parents understand their baby, Pampers have developed a giant ‘caterpillar’ of interlinked pods which take the visitor through different stages of a baby’s development.

The journey through the caterpillar features: the Womb Pod, where sound effects mimic a mother’s heartbeat and gurgling tummy; the Sense Pod with oversized cot and mobile, allowing adults to experience life as a newborn baby; the Explore Pod featuring a wobbly floor to show how hard it is for a baby to walk; a Learn Pod where adults can try writing with wobbly pencils, demonstrating the challenges babies face fine-tuning motor development skills; and the Conquer Pod where adults are faced by a giant loo and basin.

* The Pampers World of Babies event will be open to the public on Wednesday, February 22, from 9am to 5pm at Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Dublin 18.