A bond between a mother to her infant is made instantly once the baby is born. This connection can be made even stronger. A mother-infant connection is made through song, as research has found.
Singing to a baby has been one of the first ways of parenting. Mothers sing to their infants as a way to make a baby fall asleep. It is a parenting tradition that is being done by all mothers regardless of culture.
Conducting the study is Shannon de l'Etoille. She is a professor of Music Therapy as well as associate dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. The study initially is how infant behavior is towards singing. The study also explores the role that singing has in forming a bond between a mother and her infant.
The study has 70 infants have their responses captured on video to six different interactions. The interactions were mothers singing an assigned song, strangers sing a song or mothers sing a song they have chosen. Other interactions include mothers read from a book, mothers play with a toy with the infant or mother and infant listen to a song.
The results showed that mothers singing to their infants were just as effective as when they read a book to them, according to the University of Miami's site. Singing to the infant has also been more effective than listening to a song with them. The study also had additional observations about how babies bond with their mothers.
It has been observed that when infants are engaged in the song, the mothers were alert. Mothers would change pitch if the infant showed signs of disengagement, as Science Daily reports. The study has also noted that mothers with post-partum depression lacked emotion when singing. Singing did help in elevating the mother's mood in those who have post-partum depression.
Singing to infants is one way to create a bond between a mother and infant. A mother-infant connection is made through song. A study has linked preterm births to air pollution.
