How to Create a Gestating Genius!

While your sitting among all your friends at the baby shower, opening all your baby shower gifts, oohing and ahhing over the lovely layette and adorable baby favors, tell your baby–out loud–about all the great stuff you’re getting!

HEIDI WATSON, Early Literacy Corps Volunteer with Head Start, says talking to your baby, inside and outside the womb, will give your baby a chubby leg up in learning. Children are making connections in their brain even before they’re born, and these connections are essential for learning. When you talk, read and sing to your baby, these connections increase.

Yes, babies can hear before birth. After the baby is born, little Eggbert or Eggberta can recognize the voices of family members and may even turn and look for that familar voice when you speak. So even though you’re only a few months along, chat it up! At one time, you might have looked insane walking in public talking to yourself. With the proliferation of ear clip cell phones, people now know you’re not insane–but you still look pretty silly. Nevermind, though, because your baby’s worth it!

Pre-Natal Patter!
Talk to your baby in the womb and after birth while doing routine things. Especially after birth, talking to your baby helps her know their world. Talk while changing diapers, sing or say nursery rhymes while feeding, describe the produce while grocery shopping, talk about baby’s cute face, feet and hands during bath time and describe what you see as you drive around doing errands. You’ll be surprised how big a difference your chatter will make in the amount of words the baby knows–even before having the ability to speak.

And think twice about angry yelling. If talking to your baby has a positive effect, imagine what anger and yelling will do.