Earlybirds is always keen to support research and development for premmie health and last year provided thank you gifts to the hundreds of mums that participated in a study conducted by Dr Amir Lahav and his team at the Neonatal Research Lab, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The research showed that humming and singing lullabies to your baby is more than maternal instinct, it actually helps a babies health and development.
If it’s too quiet in the hospital the auditory systems aren’t stimulated at all. These studies showed that babies who had their auditory systems stimulated with noises from the womb or sounds from their mums had better and more consistent weight gains.
The sounds were played to babies in their isolettes through a mini sound system, usually when parents had gone home to catch up on some sleep.
While the sounds from the womb were important, the best results were from babies hearing sounds from their mums.
If you’re interested to look at the results please have a look here:
http:// www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/news/health/Preemie-Lullabies/156339535
Next Research Project
Dr Lahav and his team will be embarking on a new project where the aim is to use both sounds and vibrations to better simulate the maternal experience of the womb for preterm infants while in the incubator which will provide them with a more developmentally-appropriate environment to grow during their NICU stay.
Donations Needed
Donations of any amount are gratefully appreciated in order to fulfil this valuable research project.
The Lahav Lab donation page: https://giving.brighamandwomens.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=576
Please forward this along to anyone who might be interested in supporting this project.
Or contact Dr Lahav direct - (email) alahav@partners.org
Web: The Lahav Lab
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