When you are pregnant, your baby is exposed to everything you experience. This includes the sounds in the environment, the air you breathe, the food you eat and the emotions you feel. When you feel happy and calm, it allows your baby to develop in a happy, calm environment.
Even when the baby is in the womb, it starts to recognize the mother's mood, voice, laughter, etc. The baby also learns to distinctly recognize mother's laughter and your laughing and being joyful promotes a sense of calmness in the baby.
Research has shown that, during pregnancy, your baby feels what you feel—and with the same intensity. That means if you're crying, your baby feels the same emotion, as if it's their own. During the gestational period, your baby is preparing themselves for life in the outside world.
Traditionally, people put headphones on their tummy for letting your baby listen to music in the womb, but there are much better results of your baby hearing your own voice. Usesome of these pregnancy tips for talking to your baby: Sing lullabies or your favorite song. Read the newspaper or kids book out loud.
Baby may start to know when their father is touching mom's belly. Babies can sense touch from anyone, but they can also sense when touch (and voice) is familiar. And by 24 weeks into pregnancy, dad can usually feel baby kick – but the exact time varies.
Yup, your baby on board can feel — and respond — when you stroke your tummy.
The takeaway
While it's true your baby can cry in the womb, it doesn't make a sound, and it's not something to worry about. The baby's practice cries include imitating the breathing pattern, facial expression, and mouth movements of a baby crying outside of the womb. You shouldn't worry that your baby is in pain.
Smiles: Babies who are well nourished and tenderly cared for will grin, smile, and light up for their special caregivers. Appetite: If he feels relaxed and comfortable and plays vigorously with crib or floor toys, your baby will nurse and eat with pleasure. Voice: Happy babies vocalize a lot. They squeal.
Your face is where your baby looks for reassuring, comforting responses and attention. Not every single response you give is vital, but the more often you smile at your baby, the better. So whenever you see your baby watching your face, a smile is a great way to tell them you notice, appreciate, love and cherish them.
Infant smiles appear to be direct behavioral expressions of joyful feelings (see Figure 1). This apparent link between behavior and meaning has motivated over a century of research on the emotional significance, causes, behavioral correlates, and developmental consequences of early smiling.
Can crying and depression affect an unborn baby? Having an occasional crying spell isn't likely to harm your unborn baby. More severe depression during pregnancy, however, could possibly have a negative impact on your pregnancy.
Studies have shown that infants as young as one month-old sense when a parent is depressed or angry and are affected by the parent's mood. Understanding that even infants are affected by adult emotions can help parents do their best in supporting their child's healthy development.
Some studies show that high levels of stress in pregnancy may cause certain problems during childhood, like having trouble paying attention or being afraid. It's possible that stress also may affect your baby's brain development or immune system.
This ultrasound study suggests that a mother's stress and/or depression can influence the movement patterns of unborn babies reflecting their body awareness. They also found key differences between the movements of singles and twins in the womb.
Fetal movements in utero are an expression of fetal well-being. However, a sudden increase of fetal movements is a sign of acute fetal distress, such as in cases of cord complications or abruptio placentae.
What causes fetal distress? Fetal distress may occur when the baby doesn't receive enough oxygen because of problems with the placenta (such as placental abruption or placental insufficiency) or problems with the umbilical cord (such as cord prolapse).
Bonding before birth
Your baby can hear you from at least 16 weeks, and perhaps earlier. Babies hear their mother's voices most clearly, but anyone can talk and sing to them – your baby will love to hear from anyone. This helps your baby: to get to know voices, which will help them feel safe and secure.
This may lead to the question of: Is my baby hungry when I'm hungry during pregnancy? No, your baby is not hungry when you are during pregnancy. An unborn baby receives a constant flow of nutrients.
At around 18 weeks of pregnancy, your unborn baby will start being able to hear sounds in your body like your heartbeat. At 27 to 29 weeks (6 to 7 months), they can hear some sounds outside your body too, like your voice. By the time they are full term, they will be able to hear at about the same level as an adult.
Getting to know each other
It may feel like a silly or one-sided conversation, but talking to your baby while they're still in the womb helps you to build a lasting bond. What's more, bonding with your bump helps your baby learn. It's easy to do – and dad can get involved too.
Emotionally absent or cold mothers can be unresponsive to their children's needs. They may act distracted and uninterested during interactions, or they could actively reject any attempts of the child to get close. They may continue acting this way with adult children.
By giving them lots of attention; playing with them; and sharing toys, knowledge, or food you can entice any baby to like you.