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Magical Melodies
The Benefits of Music for You and Your Preterm Infant
By Tamar Weiss
, sounds evocative of the womb can greatly improve the health of an infant. Dr. Schwartz's studies, as well as those of Dr. Jayne Standley, show that the use of specific music (generally lullabies sung in a female voice and uterine sounds of a pregnant woman's voice mixed with female singing) increased oxygen saturation levels, healthy sleep patterns and weight gain in newborns. In addition, irritability (causing stress which forces the infant to expend much-needed calories) decreased, sucking ability improved, the length of the hospital stay was shortened, and head circumference – which indicates brain size – increased. Researchers have found that low birth weight babies, whose head circumference does not grow at a fast enough rate, display decreased cognitive abilities later in life.
Studies have shown decreased developmental delays in premature infants who were exposed to recordings of their own mothers' voices in the hospital. A study by Juanita Keck, a professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, found that music also has pain-relieving benefits to babies. "One can trace a pain inhibition pathway from the ear through the auditory neural pathway to areas of the brain known to be involved with pain inhibition, including both the intensity of pain and the negative emotional and distress components of pain," Keck says.
Such findings may ease parents who are forced to watch their tiny babies hooked up to numerous machines. The idea that singing or playing music for their child may be decreasing some of their discomfort is certainly needed reinforcement for parents with babies in NIU.
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