Promoting Your Baby's Intelligence During Pregnancy

Reviewed and approved by the psychologist María Alejandra Castro Arbeláez.

Written by Zuleyvic Adriana Cuicas

Last update: 27 December, 2022

Studies show that there is an intimate connection between stimulating the fetus and a baby’s intelligence, motor skills, language, and social abilities. All of this is important when you want your child to develop their intelligence and talents.

Some of these studies discuss the use of music during pregnancy. In this day and age, it’s quite common to see a pregnant woman with headphones on her belly. This is because a true, strong connection exists between communicating with the baby and their development as a newborn.

Many of these researchers confirm that playing music to the baby in utero increases their ability to learn, and their intelligence develops faster once they’re born.

The same argument can be applied to those who read to their babies during pregnancy. Once their ability to hear has been developed, reading to a baby can help them develop language early.

Other actions that increase prenatal intelligence and help the baby learn in utero include teaching them vocabulary associated with an action.

For example, you should say the word loudly and clearly while at the same time doing that action. This helps the baby associate words with actions, and once they’re born they can learn faster.

Many babies have demonstrated that they recognize the voices and music that they heard in utero. What’s more, when the mother wants to calm the baby, generally she holds him with his head on her left side, where he can listen to her heart and relax, since this is a sound that he recognizes and that calms him.

Stimulating the senses helps develop a baby’s intelligence

Prenatal stimulation is a technique that has become very popular. The baby is exposed to a wide variety of stimuli while in utero, and as he recognizes them, he will learn to react to each of them.

This frequent exposure is what stimulates the central nervous system and helps to increase the baby’s intelligence during pregnancy.

Babies that are stimulated during pregnancy develop better motor skills, vision, hearing, and language. These babies also show greater self-confidence and are more alert and content than babies who were not stimulated.

Music and voices that are used to stimulate the baby’s intelligence during pregnancy generally have a calming effect after birth. Studies show that prenatal stimulation has a positive impact on the baby’s learning ability once born, and that this advantage continues throughout childhood.

There is also evidence that babies who were stimulated have a better handle on stress, and this points to a more developed central nervous system. When the mother strokes her belly, she generates relaxation and a sense of ease that will always be pleasant for both mother and child, which improves anxiety and strengthens their bond.

The best time during pregnancy to stimulate your baby

The best time to begin stimulating your baby is around the third month of pregnancy. Although hearing is not developed until the fifth month, you can use tactile stimulation, light and vibrations at this time, and at the fifth month begin to use music and songs.

The baby is also affected by your emotions. When the mother knows how to relax, it will teach the baby how to easily do the same, reducing stress and helping to develop the child’s brain. The way in which parents interact with the baby in utero can have a lasting effect, because they will feel loved and, therefore, confident.

It’s important that this stimulation is introduced in an organized way. When done like this, it’s much easier for your baby to organize the information in your baby’s brain. At this time, the baby completely depends on their parents to give this stimulation and to not overstimulate them, because this can cause stress and they’re not yet able to cope with all of this information.