What Can I Do While Pregnant To Make My Baby Smart?
Some recommendations from a pediatric speech pathologist, mom, and children’s literacy fan.
Does playing music to your baby in utero make your baby smart?
It was a late afternoon on a crowded train (yay Boston MBTA!) and I was 6 months pregnant. I was minding my own business, when an older woman sitting in front me of said, “you know, you should play classical music for your baby”.
This is not the first time I heard this suggestion. Strangers are quick to offer unsolicited advice to pregnant women but this time I decided to actually look into the science.
Old Wives’ Tale, Fact, or Both?
I went to the journals and peer-reviewed articles. I lost myself for a few days trying to research the best way to support my unborn child. If you are a parent, you know what I mean when I say that I dug deep to ensure I was doing what was best for my little one. After my deep dive, I had a better understanding of what the current research found.
Here’s what they say —
It’s true that a study (all references are at the bottom) emerged in 2013 that seemed to reinforce previous research.
Infants show signs of recognizing words including rate and rhythm that they heard in utero.
According to this study, infants showed this recognition for “pseudowords” (made up words) that they were exposed to in utero. This study indicated that babies have some memory for sounds that they heard before they were born. This very cool finding by Eino Partanen of the University of Helsinki is pretty amazing BUT is it possible to capitalize on this by playing music that will make my child super smart?
Unfortunately, no.
There is no evidence that stimulation beyond the typical sounds that an infant hears will lead to any long-term benefits. Furthermore, some scientists recommend against playing loud music or auditory stimulation as it can impact sleeping patterns and can be overstimulating.
Now What? Read!
While playing classical music while pregnant won’t make my daughter super smart, I did learn that babies can recognize familiar voices and speech patterns and that auditory learning starts before birth.
The studies I found (references below) recommended reading books while pregnant. A fetus begins to show reactions to auditory stimulation at about 19 weeks gestation and studies have shown that infants will react to a variety of tones by 33 weeks. Books stimulate auditory learning of language, specifically those that have a definitive rhyme pattern.
Basically, reading, singing, and talking while pregnant provide excellent auditory stimulation that helps lay down a foundation for hearing and language development.
Some Books Are Better Than Others
What books are good to read? Research shows us that the pitch and tone are more important than the actual words so any books that you like and that you want your baby to like is great! If you are exposing your child to more than one language, pick a children’s book in that language to expose them to the patterns of that language. Books with a clear rhyme scheme and repetition like these are solid picks.
And here are some of my favorites!
These repetitive rhyming books are classics that will translate well to the toddler year. The bright colors and high contrast is visually interesting for toddlers and parents alike.
Some people pick books that have sentimental meaning or family favorites. My mother insisted that no pregnant person should read ‘Love You Forever’ by Robert Munsch as it would make them too emotional and insisted that I remove it from my list. Instead she agreed on these two books including a throwback to my childhood:
I personally liked to read books with pictures that I enjoyed looking at that were fun, silly, and had great rhymes. Fun fact, I can recite both of these by memory:
My husband opted for books and fairy tales in Russian, Сказки, to expose our daughter early to a second language. He grew up in Russia and speaks Russian fluently. We made the decision early on to make Russian a priority and if you plan to expose your child to two languages, reading to them while in utero is a great time to start.
I picked up some fun bilingual books so that I could practice and that would appeal to babies as well. If you plan on exposing your child to two languages, these and similar books are available in a variety of languages:
Want to take a deeper dive?
Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
