List members: I am writing to see if anyone out there is familiar with
prenatal and postnatal stimulation research, particularly stimulation
postnally with mother's heart beat and/or music.

What I'm specifically looking for is any research pointing towards and
improvement of outcomes, shortened length of NICU stays, etc. The essential
question: Does prenatal and postnatal stimulation encourage learning and
creative potential of their babies during gestation and postpartum
development, as well as improve their chance of surving a life threatening
condition, such as preterm delivery?

I would also like to know what products that you are using in your NICU's
to stimulate infants, if any. Additionally, if postnatal stimulation is
efficatious in terms of reduced costs associated with decreased length of
NICU stays, would hospitals, health plans, and other organizations advocate
use of products that provide adequate stimulation. Also, what other groups
or markets would have interest in studying or using stimulation in
neonates/antepartum?

Thanks in advance.

Sincerly,

PS: Below is an example of a reponse from another list serve that provides
even further detail than my original question.

I have a degree in Music Performance and Psychology and a Masters (in a few
months) in Human Development and Family Studies. I am currently involved in
Human Development and Family Studies, with a particular emphasis on prenatal
development and low birth weight infants. I have a few articles that hopefully
may be helpful.

First, there is a doctoral study by Chapman, J.S., (1975). The Relation
Between Auditory Stimulation of Short Gestation Infants and Their Gross Motor
Limb Activity. Doctoral Dissertation, New York University.

I read the dissertation, and have seen it cited several times by other
authors. A point that has been particularly made is the idea that musical
sounds can result in changes in metabolism. Chapman played Brahm's Lullaby for
5 minutes, 6 times a day, finding that for premature infants, the muscial
stimulus produced faster weight gain than voice sounds that were also played
according to the same schedule. Babies that were stimulated in this way were
also discharged sooner than non-stimulated babies.

A second research line that may be helpful are studies that have been done by
Salk on maternal heartbeat sounds. One was done in 1960, and the other in 1962
(there may also be some after this). The reference is Salk, L. (1960). The
effects of the normal heartbeat sound on the behavior of the newborn infant:
Implications for mental health. World Mental Health, 12, 168-175.

The other by Salk is Salk, L. (1962). Mother's heartbeat as an imprinting
stimulus. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Series 2, 4,
753-63.

In one experiment, he compared the behavior of an experimental group of
neonates exposed continuously for the first few days of their lives to a
recording of a heartbbeat sound occurring 72 times per minute with the
behavior of a control group that heard just hospital sounds. He found that
the experimental group babies cried less were more relaxed, fell asleep
more quickly, and gained weight rather than lost it as did the control
group participants. Salk believed that because of the infant's long
prenatal experience in hearing and feeling the mother's heartbeat sound,
the heartbeat served as a stimulus that was remembered postnatally and was
able to calm the infant.

A forth study is one that was done by Satt, B. J. (1984). An investigation
into the acoustical induction of intra-uterine learning. Ph.D Dissertation,
Californian School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles.

Satt used an operant conditioning paradigm to determine if newborns would
prefer hearing a lullaby to which they had been exposed in utero in
comparison to a control song, and they in fact, did, even when no other
exposure to the lullaby occurred postnatally. Satt maintains that the
findings demonstrate that higher cortical regions are operating in utero,
and that interuterine teaching and learning may have therapeutic value. (It
seems to me that in the cases of threatened premature birth, if a
particular lullaby were introduced, the prenate learned the lullaby and if
premature birth followed, the lullaby learned may have therapeutic value to
the preterm child in terms of calming or growth as was shown by Chapman
with Brahm's lullaby).

One website that might be valuable to access would be
http://www.birthpsychology.com/lifebefore/sound1.html
It has some of the history of prenatal acoustic learning, as well as a
wonderful reference list that may be valuable.


Another researcher that has looked at the role of prenatal stimulation
through various sources has been Manrique, B. One website that I know of
that has some of her findings can be found at
http://www.makewayforbaby.com/research.htm

I also have more references in regard to prenatal auditory learning and the
fetal experience with sound. If you would like me to send them your way,
let me know. Hope these help!
Wynette Howard

Betty J. Carey, RN, BSN, Maternity Management Consultant
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