Benefits of Music Therapy for Pregnancy and Childbirth
Bringing new life into the world is one of the most momentous events in a woman’s life. Pregnancy and the delivery process is truly intense, and it can have its challenges and difficulties. However, we often don’t pay enough attention to the important emotional aspect. Music therapy for pregnancy and childbirth attends to this long-forgotten component. In fact, it can prepare you so you fully enjoy the arrival of your child.
Unfortunately, there are countless testimonies from mothers who remember their pregnancy and delivery with anguish. They remember how lonely, confused and misunderstood they felt. Also, some talk about the obstetric violence they had to suffer.
Music therapy is one more tool in the important process of empowering women and giving them back the reigns of pregnancy. You have the gift of giving life, and you have the right to experience it in a happy and healthy way.
What is music therapy for pregnancy and childbirth?
Music therapy is sometimes confused with simply listening to music. However, it’s much more than that. It’s a series of interventions carried out by a trained professional with a clear objective: to improve health and wellbeing at all levels.
Usually, it’s done in small groups, based on the common needs of each group of mothers. Often, the women themselves are actively involved in creating the music, so they’re a part of the process.
In music therapy, music is only a tool, the common thread of the activities that you do. In reality, it’s about connecting the mother with her baby through music. Also, it helps her enter into relaxed and pleasant states that are associated with sounds.
So, you do exercises like relaxation through body movement or creative visualizations to address the typical fears of pregnancy.
Benefits of music therapy for pregnancy and childbirth
Mother-baby connection
Through music therapy, it’s possible to establish or strengthen the bond between mother and child in an early way. Approximately, after the fourth month of pregnancy, the fetus can already perceive and recognize music. Then, when it’s familiar to them, they react with slight movements.
This helps the mom become aware of the beautiful presence of her child early on. She can also relate to her baby before they’re even born. It’s especially good for mothers who find it hard to connect emotionally with their baby.
Positive emotional climate
Pregnancy can be stressful for many women. Physical and emotional changes, medical tests, discomfort… All this can generate anxiety and unpleasant emotions in the mother.
Music therapy helps release endorphins and dopamine, substances that reduce stress and make you happy. In addition, through activities, the mother is taught to calm down and relax.
The fetus can also perceive these positive sensations that you experience. Then, they’ll feel calm from their mother. In addition, women learn to relax through movement. In this way, you’ll be able to replicate these feelings during delivery.
On the other hand, it’s been shown that music is associated with strengthening the immune system, thus promoting a safer pregnancy. In addition, it stimulates and favors the baby’s hearing development, as well as other abilities. For example, these children will have an easier time focusing and recognizing voices after delivery.
Childbirth: a magical moment for mother and child
Childbirth is too often a stressful experience for women. Thanks to music therapy, you’ll be able to control and reduce pain by listening to melodies that calm and relax you. Additionally, you can use the relaxation exercise that you learned.
For its part, the baby arrives in a hostile and unknown world. Being greeted with a melody that is familiar to you and evokes pleasant emotions will make their arrival into the world more comfortable.
In short, music therapy is a great activity that will help the mother and baby bond during pregnancy. It will also create a simpler and more positive arrival into the world.
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All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Gabriel, F. (1999). Musicoterapia y embarazo. II jornadas de conceptualización de la, 2.
- Cortés Campos, M. (2015). Efectos de la musicoterapia durante el embarazo y el parto. Metas de Enfermería, 18(8), 56-61.
