Many people believe a child only feels for his/her surroundings and starts to understand other people’s feelings when he/she is a few months or years old. We might think that a child’s perception of himself, others, and the world is a process that starts after birth. However, is that belief true? Or does your newborn get a glimpse of his life during his/her time inside the womb? This article will let you know just how much your child knows about the future before even coming to life.

Babies do not wait until birth to absorb information. In fact, they listen, learn and remember so much of what their mothers tell them during the last stages of pregnancy, according to study author Patricia K. Kuhl. This explains how mothers can give their babies a solid foundation for language development, making them aware of the difference between their mother’s native tongue and other foreign languages just hours after being born (Bhamani, 2017). Natalie Meirowitz, chief of maternal and fetal medicine, highlights how sensitive the fetus is and how mothers should let language develop smoothly, without adding extra stimuli like making the baby listen to language tapes, since it could have a negative effect on the fetus (Mann, 2013).

This greatly stresses the importance of talking to your baby in a relaxing and calm way, in order to create a stress-free environment. Babies can tell the difference between a relaxed tone or violent language through the mother’s voice which is heard by the baby because of his/her amplification to her body.

Everything you encounter as a pregnant woman is automatically shared with the fetus, starting from the air you breathe, the chemicals you are exposed to, the food you eat, to the emotions that you feel. The baby perceives these stimuli as information that represent “biological postcards from the outside world” (Stark, 2014). These postcards help the baby answer questions that are important to its survival; “Will I be safe and protected or face constant danger?”, “Will I live a fruitful, long life or a harried, short one?”, “What world will I be born into?”, etc. Thus, he/she translates those answers into a simple message of whether he/she is wanted or not. Your baby can tell while still a fetus inside your womb, whether you want them or not.

During the womb, your child gets to develop gradually in terms of his/her language, sensors, feelings, etc. Even though it might be a minor development, its impact could be critical for how the child would turn out to be when he/she is born. Every single thing a pregnant woman does is automatically recorded, translated and stored by the baby. Your exposure to chemicals during fetal development will likely increase their risk of adverse health effects, and your exposure to violence and unhealthy environments will likely cause the same harmful effects (Woodruff et al., 2011). Whether it is physical or mental health, your baby will likely be affected.

Your unborn baby knows everything, so do not take your pregnancy experiences for granted.

References

Babies learn language in the womb. (2013). The Science Teacher (National Science Teachers Association), 80(2), 15-16.

Bhamani, S. (2017). Educating before birth via talking to the baby in the womb: Prenatal innovations. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 4(2), 368. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v4i2.1736

Mann, D. (2013). Babies listen and learn while in the womb. WebMD. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20130102/babies-learn-womb#1

Stark, P. (2014). What babies learn in the womb. National Right to Life News, 14.

Woodruff, T. J., Zota, A. R., & Schwartz, J. M. (2011). Environmental chemicals in pregnant women in the United states: NHANES 2003-2004. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(6), 878-885. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002727