Singing – natural and good for you both.
Here at Baby Listen we are great believers in the power of music and singing. People the world over sing to their babies – it seems to feel natural for most parents.
But what are the benefits?
Calmer & happier
Singing clearly fascinates babies and has been shown to help them to regulate their own emotions – to settle down when they are distressed, for example – more than talking does.
A possible reason for this could be that singing appears to help reduce the level of the stress/arousal hormone cortisol, allowing babies – and adults – to be in a calm state and better able to focus their attention.
Stronger bonds
Singing together deepens the bond between baby and parents. The great thing is that parents don’t need to be musically talented. As long as they are responsive to the state their baby is in – singing a soothing song if baby is upset, for example – babies love whatever their parents sing to them.
Perhaps at play here is the calming effect of singing, which can cause babies to be more happy and engaged. A content baby makes for a much easier life, of course, which in turn can lead to more positive parental feelings – a natural boost for the bonding process.
Learning & making sounds
Singing also encourages babies to focus on sounds and practise their own sound production, all likely to have a positive effect on their language development.
Infants love looking at the face of whoever is singing to them, watching how their mouth is moving and listening carefully – as babies do – to the sounds this is causing to come out.
Babies want to sing when they are sung to, and will try to make music themselves. This encourages their development in making sounds – as well as being very sweet to watch.
So what can parents do to benefit their babies?
Simple – give it a go. Sing to your little one – wherever, whenever.
It doesn’t have to be a song you know – you can sing about what you’re doing now. The world’s shortest song about changing a nappy? A great start! You’re melodically challenged? Not a problem!
In fact, whether you’re musically talented or not, it just doesn’t matter. What’s for sure is that you’ll never have a more appreciative audience!
Baby Listen
At Baby Listen, we believe that a language is never foreign if you’ve heard it from early on in life.
We aim to give parents simple and enjoyable ways to bring another language into their child’s life at the optimum time – and which allow them to spend quality time with their little one, building shared experiences and bonds together.
We also believe that parents and children deserve top-quality music, well recorded, with great musicians and acoustic instruments. Real music for little ones that parents will actually enjoy listening to…
… and singing along with!
Check out our Spanish 0+ album.
More from the Baby Listen blog:
Map out a future with other languages
In the early weeks and months of your baby’s life, even though they may not produce anything that’s recogniseable as speech, they are listening carefully to the sounds other people make, analysing them and putting them into categories on a developing mental sound map.
Musical bumps: do babies learn their first songs in the womb?
It’s quite common for parents to play music to their unborn baby in the hope that it will improve their development… but does it have any effect?
Research carried out at the University of Helsinki has shown that…
This natural and fun activity really helps you learn another language
Intuitively, we seem to know that singing things helps us to remember them – think of all the song lyrics you know.
But does singing in another language help you to learn it?
The fun way into
Spanish for your
baby - and you
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