Why Singing To Your Baby Matters
(Video: Indiana mom Annie Hatke sings a wonderful nursery rhyme. Her YouTube channel is a rich resource!)
It's early in the morning and I'm feeling a bit groggy. My four-year-old daughter trips into the bedroom, scoots into bed with me, and nestles under the blankets. "Can you sing the sunshine song?" she asks, with a cheerful grin that only small children can manage in these wee sma' hours. So I sing, "you are my sunshine" to her, she giggles and grins some more, and we're both in a better mood to start off the day.
In a world full of easily accessible, high quality audio entertainment it's easy to forget that the gift of making music is not given only to a privileged few, and that singing is something beautiful and good that we can all do.
Yes, mothers of babies, that means you too. Babies in utero begin to hear and process sounds between 23-27 weeks; "process sounds" sounds technical and detached; the reality is so intensely beautiful. They hear us and they care about what they are listening to; in one study, newborns who listened to certain sounds in utero noticed even slight changes in what they heard after birth. And, mom, your voice is magic; newborn babies using pacifiers as controllers, will suck harder to hear their mother's voice.
What's so special about singing, though? It reduces stress hormones; it literally helps us produce antibodies to illness; it calms us down. The Chicago Tribune ran a long story on these benefits and so many more. The upshot: Singing is a wonderful form of recreation and can be good self-care.
It's good baby care, too. One of my favorite studies ever showed the benefits of music therapy on premies in the NICU. He wasn't a premie, but my son spent six weeks in two NICUs and singing was one of the best things we did for bonding. Babies in the NICU are at risk for overstimulation, and a great deal of recorded music can trigger that. A simple human voice, though, especially if it's one a baby is familiar with, is different. Babies in this study had better breathing rates and their parents were less stressed when singing was involved.
And finally, one more cool study from this research nerd! Babies listening to songs stayed calmer in stressful circumstances than babies who didn't. Whoah! To quote part of the study: "researchers...found that singing beat out speech, keeping babies calm about twice as long."
Isn't that amazing? We carry our voice with us always and it's one of the best tools we've got for helping calm our babies! What should you sing? Anything, really! Start with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star if that's your jam at first. It's easy to branch out with the help of YouTube channels. Indiana mom Annie Hatke has a beautiful channel where she sings American folk songs, often with brief introductions to them. It's very easy to listen and then start singing along... then start singing the tunes on your own!
Heather @ Children of the Open Air has a terrific channel about early music instruction, and I love this video about singing lullabies to babies. As she says, "plunging" in is really the best way to go about it. Your baby just wants to hear your voice, truly! Songs of faith are some of the favorites in our house, especially old, simple ones that are easy for a sleep-deprived mom to remember! Elizabeth Mitchell also has some albums with sweet & wonderful children's songs that are easy to listen to and learn.
When Should You Sing? Anytime, really! Driving in the car, while feeding your baby (just be prepared for them to hum with you!), at bedtime, cheerful songs on walks, after reading a book to them, if you feel like they're getting bored, if you feel like you're getting bored! We live in a society that often tells us we need to buy happiness; as it turns out, though, with singing we have the ability to take charge of that on our own, for free. That is something worth celebrating.... maybe even with a song. ;)