Music During Pregnancy

Lullabies have been used for centuries to calm babies. In fact, it is the combination between the pure effect of music and the maternal voice that represents the common stimulus between prenatal and postnatal periods for the baby, which play a role in the soothing effect. Besides, the relationship between the mother and the baby is essentially musical, since the baby does not yet understand words, but rather stores the musical speech features.

Basic studies demonstrated that fetuses can appreciate music, which is an arrangement of pitches to form a melody. Infants of mothers who have listened to music in the antenatal period scored significantly higher in behavioral assessment including habituation, orientation, range of state, regulation of state, and autonomic stability than infants of mothers who did not.

As for the effect of music exposure on the mother antenatally, several studies have shown a positive effect on maternal stress, especially during ultrasound sessions or during IVF embryo transfer procedures. Also, postnatally, some studies revealed music therapy led to lower pain scores and postoperative opiod use.  In conclusion, as demonstrated by multiple studies, music can play a substantial role in pregnancy, whether on the fetus through improving learning abilities and strengthening the bonding relationship with the mother, or on the mother through reducing antenatal stress, and intrapartum and postpartum pain.