Health

Why Should You Read Books When You Are Pregnant?

Whether you conceive naturally or through medical intervention, your pregnancy is valuable to you. After being pregnant, you (as a mom-to-be) usually become more conscious of your health, eating habits, fitness, hygiene, and likes-dislikes. You do it to produce the best nourishment and create the ideal environment for the baby in your womb. 

Dr Reena Gupta, working at an IVF centre in Kathmandu, states that caring for a forthcoming baby and her health can be stressful for a mother. Reading books during pregnancy can help you a lot. As per many studies, reading to the child in your uterus is highly beneficial for you and your baby. 

Importance of reading while pregnant      

Reading at the right time during pregnancy is advantageous to you. It can help you lower anxiety and stress in you. As per a study, the heart rate of the baby goes down and the baby stops moving when a mother reads during pregnancy. As the baby stops moving and starts enjoying your reading, you feel comfort and your stress level goes down. 

Reading books during pregnancy helps you improve bonding behaviour. It strengthens the link between you and your unborn baby as the infant is accustomancy to his/her mother’s voice. The baby can make differences between loud and mild tones of music. The baby feels more calm when he/she listens to gentle music. The gentle music makes the baby feel relaxed and soothing. Further, the baby gets awake when he/she listens to loud music. It happens as the baby does not like loud music. 

Improvement in concentration is one of the significant benefits of reading while pregnant. The baby takes the melody of the song when the mother reads something sweet even if the lyrics are not familiar to the baby. He/she recognises his/her mother’s voice. Studies have proven that females who read books or sing for more time during their pregnancy have babies with improved attention and concentration time span.   

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Does reading books during pregnancy make your child smarter? 

Many studies and research papers have stated that starting reading to a child at a young age helps improve cognitive skills. So, as a mom-to-be, you should start reading books as early as you can. Reading books while pregnant can help you strengthen the bond between you and your baby. It can help you relieve your anguish from maternal stress and worries. 

The right time to start reading books to the baby in your womb

After 6 months of your pregnancy, your baby becomes familiar with your womb sounds, heart beats, and digestive sounds. Outer sounds that are below to 10 decibels are extremely clear to the baby. At or after 25 weeks, the sound helps your baby to have a connection with the outer world. So at this time, soothing rhythmic sounds of a simple story makes your baby happy and makes a bond between both of you. Here, it means you should start reading books or singing songs just before the beginning of the third trimester of your pregnancy. 

Types of books you should read during your pregnancy

The baby cannot comprehend the exact meaning of words. However, the baby can pick up the rhythm and sentence tones and respond to his/her mover whatever she reads. Reading horror stories or novels of crime/thriller can increase stress and anxiety in you. As a result, your baby can get stressed and anxious. Therefore, you should read books that have light and funny stories. And you should divide your reading in small parts to make your child respond to your reading. Diving your reading is essential as your child in the womb has short attention spans.      

Conclusion 

Reading books is important for a mother-to-be. It helps you increase the bond between both of you, lower stress level and enhance attention time span. As a mom-to-be, you should start reading when you are about to enter into the 3rd trimester of your pregnancy. You should read light and funny books. While reading a book, you should divide your reading into small parts if the book is longer enough.

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