Based on their Instagram posts, you may have seen celebrity moms like Bianca Gonazlez-Intal and Isabel Oli-Prats sporting a gadget on their belly. Even rocker mom-of-three Gwen Stefani had used it while she was pregnant with her kids. What is it?
It's called BabyPlus, a prenatal education system created by developmental psychologist Dr. Brent Logan of the Prenatal Institute in Seattle. Here's why moms are making it a must-have in their first trimester.
1. What does it do?
Baby Plus is a prenatal learning device that plays not music or words, but sounds that mimic a child's early surroundings, such as the natural rhythm of a mother's heartbeat. All 16 BabyPlus lessons are patterned after the natural and simple sounds of the mother’s heartbeat. The rhythm increases incrementally with each succeeding lesson, and introduces the baby to sequential learning as he or she learns to differentiate between the BabyPlus lesson and the consistent rhythm of the mother’s heartbeat.What other parents are reading
2. Why is it important during the prenatal stage?
Educators, scientists, and physicians have long ago acknowledged the vital importance of a healthy and enriched prenatal environment and how it affects the long term development and learning ability of a child. A child in the womb is a time when his brain is at its most receptive stage. While the baby can hear sounds outside the womb, the most dominant and constant sound present in his life is his mother's heartbeat. So to truly communicate with and encourage early comparative learning during the prenatal months, sounds similar to the mother’s heartbeat are the most developmentally appropriate.ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW3. How is it different from playing music or talking to your baby in the womb?
Playing music and talking to a baby inside the womb are also ways to stimulate a baby's brain while still inside his mother's womb. Certain types of classical music can have a calming effect on a pregnant mother. The baby in utero can also sense a mother’s mood, and the mother’s emotional state can also have a corresponding calming effect on the baby. However, BabyPlus says it can develop the learning ability of your baby by using the heartbeat, the "language of the womb."4. How do you use it?
It's best to start using BabyPlus at the 18th week of pregnancy when the baby's hearing is fully developed. Using its online lesson calendar, you need to calculate the number of days per lesson. After determining that, all you need to do is strap on the Baby Plus pouch above your abdomen, select your prenatal baby's lesson for the day, and you're done. The device's volume settings are preset at a precise and safe level, and it automatically shuts off once the lesson is complete. The lessons usually run for an hour, and you only have to do two lessons every day until expected date of delivery.What other parents are reading
5. What are the advantages of using BabyPlus?
Mothers who used BabyPlus during their pregnancies report that their babies are more relaxed and alert, are more responsive and interactive, and are visibly ready to absorb and appreciate their environment. Parents report that these babies nurse more readily and soothes himself more easily. BabyPlus babies are also achieve developmental milestones earlier than babies who weren't exposed to its prenatal learning curriculum.
"I was never a believer , but not really a skeptic. I checked with my OB and pediatrician, and both of them said it's not harmful, so I thought there was nothign to lose when I tried it. My daughter is now possibly the calmest baby I've ever seen. She rarely cried and needs to rituals to go to bed. She's been sleeping through the nigh since three months old. Someimts I even think she understands the conversations around her. She's very alert and can entertain herself with her toys," says mom Kathy Yap-Huang.CONTINUE READING BELOWwatch nowMom Windy Chua Teng swears that her son is a very hapyp and active baby. "We've never had problems feeding him and noticed a very good pattern with his sleeping schedule as early as 2 and a half months. BabyPlus is the best gift your can give your child, while sill inside your womb!" she adds.
For more information about about BabyPlus, visit babyplus.com. It's available at Rustan's, Mothercare and online store Milk & Honey.
