New research shows rhymes do lead to reason for the unborn
New research has shown that babies in utero begin to respond to the rhythms of nursery rhymes spoken by their mothers during the third trimester of development.
The study was conducted by University of Florida researchers and published in the May 2014 issue of the journal Infant Behavior and Development.
That study shows there is evidence of learning at just 34 weeks of development.
Babies even are capable of remembering rhymes prior to birth, the study found.
Researcher Charlene Krueger, an associate professor at UF’s College of Nursing, said her team studied 32 pregnant women who read to their unborn babies three times a day for six weeks starting at 28 weeks of gestation – the start of the third trimester.
Results were recorded using a fetal heart monitor that showed a fetus’ heart rate responded to familiar rhymes spoken by a stranger’s voice at 34 weeks once the mother had spoken the rhyme out loud for six weeks prior.