Prenatal Exercise: Stimulating your baby while in the womb
One of the best and most magical feelings during pregnancy is when you feel your baby move around or respond to your touch while inside the womb, for the first time. It would make sense that you would want to feel your baby moving around in the womb more often, but this goes so much deeper than just that. Most doctors suggest that prenatal stimulation is extremely necessary when it comes to the healthy and fast development of all of your baby’s sensory impulses.
Today, we take a look at some of the basic facts of prenatal stimulation and the simple ways in which you can stimulate your baby to move around more often and have a faster neural development.
Why is prenatal stimulation essential?
Your baby starts developing their sensory perceptions and starts responding to them almost during the beginning of your second trimester. For instance, it is suggested that the food that you eat also reaches the taste glands of your baby through the amniotic fluid that they are placed inside the womb. Even at a stage as early as 30 weeks, your baby’s heartbeat can be significantly altered with the use of music. In fact, from a very early age, doctors suggest that babies develop a keen sense of music because they are so accustomed to the rhythm of the blood and the heartbeats of their mothers while still in the womb. Some studies have also suggested that if you start talking to your unborn child, then they tend to start using speech at a much earlier age. Thus, the way the baby’s neural senses interact with the stimulations that are provided by and from the external world, play a significant role in their mental as well as physical development as they grow up. Thus, it is important that you use a number of prenatal stimulations to interact with your yet unborn child.
What kind of prenatal stimulation exercises can you use?
Speak to your baby
Your baby’s hearing will develop more or less during the 28th week of your pregnancy. This is the perfect time to start talking to your little one as they will learn to separate your voice from that of the others. Other than that, speaking to your baby about your day or the future you imagine is also a gentle and beautiful way to bond with them.
Touch your baby bump
Touching your baby bump is the most effective and simplest way to shape your baby’s motor and neural functions because they start to feel touch almost as early as during the second trimester. Every time you feel your baby’s feet, we suggest that you gently massage it or poke it a little to get them to move around a little more.
Make them listen to some music
As mentioned, babies are very in tune with sounds and music, which makes it a great stimulant. Studies show that gentle instrumental music can soother them and slow down their heart rate while loud and upbeat music can increase their heart rate.
Light stimulation
Try shining a low intensity flashlight at your baby bump to visually stimulate your baby to move around. However, this is a little risky and doctors suggest that you try this during the tail end of your pregnancy.
Things to remember
- It is important that you keep stress at a minimum and do not overwork yourself because it can put both your as well as your baby’s health at risk, and the baby may even develop a number of physical issues later in life.
- When it comes to stimulation, we suggest you try it when the baby is awake or more active or it can seriously alter your baby’s sleeping pattern, leading to some health issues.
- Always make sure that you do not overdo this. When it comes to pregnancy, moderation is key, which means do not try to stimulate your baby to move all the time. This is will exhaust both of you.
- If you are using visual stimulation, we suggest you try this with a very mild light and keep the exposure time to a minimum or else, as some doctors suggest, it can cause visual impairment.
