Your unborn baby is like a coral sponge soaking up the good, bad and the ugly aspects of your thoughts, feelings and physiology. This is the best time to create a deeper bond with your baby by sharing yourself in a meaningful way that she will remember long after birth. Meditation, yoga and music are excellent additions to your daily regimen during pregnancy that provides positive bonding opportunities between you and your bundle of joy to be.
Parenting: The Real Beginning
Developing babies begin learning about the world through the overall state of their mothers. By the fifth week of gestation, your baby has begun to develop the ears that will distinguish the sound of your voice. He recognizes your mood by the hormones you release, your breathing and heart beat and the foods that you eat. Everything from his personality to the way his fingerprints will develop is inherently bound to you, your habits and the way you handle life's experiences.
Connecting Through Meditation
In her book "Meditations for Pregnancy," Dr. Michelle Leclaire O'Neill uses the term "umbilical code" to describe the unspoken communication that occurs between mother and baby during pregnancy. This code is a language that shares subconscious and conscious emotions, thoughts and perceptions and is deepened through meditation. New mothers should visualize the weekly developmental processes of their babies and connect them to personal triumphs and evolution. The umbilical code offers the first opportunity for bonding with your child that lasts a lifetime, O'Neill says.
Prenatal Memories
Learning how to have quality time with your baby stretches the umbilical code to the fullest. A warm bath, taking a walk on a sunny day and your ability to laugh through life's obstacles are instant messages that will require little deciphering. Your baby will let you know what she likes through physiological responses, movement and your intuition. The things you expose your baby to become ingrained into her psyche as prenatal memories, according to the Center for Prenatal and Perinatal Music.
Yoga Benefits
Yoga acts as a building renovator during pregnancy helping the muscles to strengthen and stretch to make room for your growing baby. Yoga increases circulation throughout your body by squeezing old blood from organs and replacing with fresh oxygenated blood. The most important tool yoga gives expecting mothers is building a connection between breath, focus and body harmony, according to yoga instructor Patricia Walden. During labor, breathing calmly and deeply -- known as ujjayi -- can help to ease pain.
Music
Hearing is the first sense to develop in your baby and listening to music during your pregnancy is something that will nurture his mind, body and spirit early on. In the late 1960s, scientist Hans Jenny revealed that music has an effect on the cells of the body through vibrational frequencies. These vibrations create changes in mood and also play roles in physiological processes like digestion and circulation. Baroque music and your singing create a bond between you and your baby that -- thanks to prenatal memories -- carries over after birth.
References
- American Pregnancy Association: Fetal Development
- "Meditations for Pregnancy: 36 Weekly Practices for Bonding with Your Unborn Baby"; Dr. Michelle Leclaire O'Neill; 2004
- "The Women's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness"; Patricia Walden; 2002
