The Importance of Prenatal Bonding.

By far, parents' voices are the top choice. This is how your baby learns about language. They can hear you talking to them. Medical research proves that an unborn baby is capable of responding to your voice. They are also capable of responding to love, and they are aware of how you feel about them. Creating a bond with your unborn baby is very important. It gives your baby a greater opportunity to be healthy and happy months before they are even born. Developing a prenatal bond will occur through conversations with your baby that contribute to feelings of love...and this translates into over-all well-being. When parents express love to their unborn baby, they are providing their baby with a warm, safe and nurturing place. This warm and safe place tells your unborn baby that they can trust you, and the world that awaits them.

Talking to your unborn baby will have a direct impact on the personality of your child. This is considered to be the time when your baby is at its peak...during construction in the womb. Thomas Verny, M.D., understands this importance:

If more pregnant women were to start communicating with their children it would represent a monumental beginning. Just imagine how you would feel alone in a room for six, seven or eight months without any emotional or intellectual stimulation. That is, more or less, the net effect of ignoring an unborn child. Obviously his emotional and intellectual needs are far more primitive than ours. The important point is that he has them. He has to feel loved and wanted just as urgently - perhaps even more urgently - than we do. He has to be talked to and thought of: otherwise his spirit and often his body, too, begin wilting. (Verny, M.D., Kelly, 1981).

Not everything a pregnant woman thinks, feels, or does will affect her child. Of course we are all only human and so there will almost definitely be times when a negative thought will cross our minds. As long as this is short term, your unborn baby will continue to thrive and grow. When it does get dangerous is when you become absorbed in your thoughts and separate from your baby. Your unborn baby needs love and attention and when he or she is able to get this from you, bonding will naturally occur. Through prenatal bonding you can impact the course of your baby's life, and that's an invaluable gift. 

*This article was written for Toronto4Kids - June 2008.