I Sing For My Baby Too my

A lullaby, that song that the mother sings in a low voice and between whispers with her child in her arms, provides remarkable benefits for the baby’s brain and emotional development. Something that has always been done in an almost intuitive way has a purpose, and a reason for being wonderful.

Let’s face it… who hasn’t sung to a baby? Both Mom and Dad do this often while they rock the baby, they sing in a low, barely audible voice, maybe a made-up song, random words with a rhythm and a cadence that almost magically end up reassuring the baby and providing sleep peaceful and rested.

It’s not magic. In fact, singing is an auditory stimulus with multiple implications for a young child’s auditory and language maturation process. In this “I’m Mommy” article we’ll talk about that.

Singing: a powerful food for the child’s brain

We all know that music relaxes, but… can a baby understand music, lyrics, notes, tempos and melodies?

No, actually. But we cannot forget that the human brain also has this area in charge of processing and understanding musical stimuli; there are many studies that explain the close relationship between early musical learning and an adequate skill in the area of ​​mathematical knowledge.

However, let’s look at it bit by bit. Let’s talk about these songs that we often sing authentically when we’re holding the baby in our arms, or nursing or bottle feeding.

Is it really that beneficial to the child’s brain when we sing? Certainly. And these are the reasons:

the singing relaxes

A relaxed voice, with no difference in tone and that knows how to convey calm and affection when singing a song, is relaxing. If Mom’s voice is in itself a significant stimulus for a child, we cannot find it strange that a lullaby or a simple song works in the same way: calming cries, alleviating fears and conveying affection.

A better emotional connection

In a stressful situation, when your baby is uncomfortable, restless or starts crying intensely, don’t hesitate to sing to him, sing softly and relaxed.

Negative emotions will dissipate with the sound of music or a song, favoring a connection of relief and calm.

We improve the baby’s self-esteem

How does singing to a child help develop their self-esteem? In a very interesting and wonderful way:

• Singing establishes an auditory and visual connection between mother and child.
• This moment of mutual attention that so attracts the baby’s attention makes him feel well taken care of. This voice speaks to him, the singing makes him feel good and therefore he feels protected and comforted.
• All of this promotes the baby’s self-esteem and, above all, makes his brain feel relaxed, free from the stress that, for example, causes fear or a feeling of abandonment.

language development

The singing is characterized by presenting a tone, a rhythm and some words that are articulated in a slower and more meaningful way. If, by itself, each thing we say to the baby at each moment fixes the development of his language, singing also produces a wonderful stimulation.

This kind of musical cadence favors the creation of new neuronal connections in this brain area that not only provides the awakening of language, but also logic and mathematics.

We improve the baby’s feeding

This is certainly very curious. When we say that we also sing to our baby, whoever listens to us immediately creates a mental image of a lullaby for the child to sleep. However, the time when we use songs the most is during meals.

Whether while we are breast-feeding or bottle-feeding, it is common to hum some traditional, current or even invented melody. It’s almost automatic and natural for many moms and dads, because in this way we relax and connect with the child to guide him toward what’s most important: food.

To conclude, if you’ve ever found yourself singing to your baby out of tune, but wrapped up in that sweet, sweet song that puts a smile on your little one’s face, don’t be surprised.  When we are parents, our brain changes and the sixth sense of creation clearly shows up in our decisions. It is this sixth sense that leads us to do simple things like lullabies, imitate babbles, sing or talk with expressive gestures. All these actions favor the development of babies in an incredible way.