Myth of Prenatal Bonding
Myths of Prenatal Bonding
People think that they cannot see the unborn baby, therefore, they are not convinced to communicate with unborn babies during pregnancy. Some people think that unborn babies do not have cognitive learning and memory capacity, therefore, it is a waste of time to communicate with babies at this stage.
Studies have shown that unborn babies have prenatal memory at 34 weeks of pregnancy. The researcher asked 32 pregnant women began reciting a rhyme to babies in the womb for 15 seconds twice a day for 6 weeks from 28th -34th weeks of their pregnancies. Fetuses' learning and memory of their rhyme were assessed at different periods of time from 28 -38 weeks.
The criteria for learning and memory was the occurrence of a heart rate slowing down following onset of a recording of the passage spoken by a female stranger.
Detection of a sustained heart rate slowing down began to emerge by 34 weeks old. Thus, fetuses begin to show evidence of learning by 34 weeks old without further exposure to it, are able to remember until just prior to birth. It means that the fetus has the ability to learn during pregnancy.
Reference:
Krueger, Charlene & Garvan, Cynthia. (2014). Emergence and retention of learning in early fetal development. Infant Behavior and Development. 37. 162–173. 10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.12.007.