Communicating with your baby during pregnancy
Communicating with your baby during pregnancy
Pregnancy is a great time for you, your partner and family to bond with your unborn baby or babies.
Developing a relationship with the unborn baby or babies will help their health and development and enhance your relationship to them.
When you touch your stomach gently babies can reply with a wriggle or give a kick. Read the NHS's week-by-week guide to pregnancy. The Humber and North Yorkshire maternity services provide pregnancy journey information also.
You can help your baby’s brain development during pregnancy. At about 20 weeks pregnant, babies can hear your voice and other everyday sounds. Talking, reading, and playing music to your baby or babies inside the womb, will help babies to learn the patterns of speech and language. Find out more by watching this short BBC video Benefits of Talking to Bump.
Where to go for further information
You can find information from a variety of sources including:
- NSPCC Look, Say Sing Play - gives fun and easy tips for baby play and development. Sending you a new tip each week, tailored to your child’s age
- Tiny Happy People - provides fun development and bonding ideas
- Building a happy baby - a guide for parents on baby brain development in pregnancy and when baby is born
- our early brain development and child development and play sections provide useful information on child development and play ideas
Where to go for further information in York
Your midwife can give you information, encouragement and emotional support during pregnancy and labour, and they will also care for both you and your baby immediately after birth. Find out more about York Hospital Maternity Services by telephone: 01904 726720.
You can also see more information about community midwifery on the Humber and North Yorkshire Maternity website.
Health Visitors offer an antenatal opportunity to provide information and support to promote positive attachment and bonding with baby and help parents and carers to make informed and positive choices for themselves and their child. If you have any questions or worries, you can call the Healthy Child Service on telephone: 01904 555475, Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 4.30pm, or email: [email protected].
