Module 3: RESPECT LIFE

(Page 4) Worksheet 2

IN THE WOMB

activity three

The more the scientists discover about the development of babies in the womb, the more wonderful the creation process appears to be. The following passage might surprise you.

It is being discovered that the infant hears the sounds of the outside world and knows his mother's voice. But he knows almost better the voice of his father, that deeper voice which penetrates the soft tissues easily. And if the father is at the mother's side during pregnancy, it is a voice that he finds familiar. The following experiment has already been carried out: the cardiac rhythm of the infant is checked, it proves to be very rapid; the infant is frightened by all this hubbub around the mother. But if the father starts to speak, the child's cardiac rhythm is seen to return to normal. In the midst of all these voices, he has recognised the voice which is familiar to him. Some psychiatrists even advise the father to sing his wife a lullaby every evening during her pregnancy and it becomes noticeable after birth that this same lullaby immediately calms the child. It is the same thing, of course, if the mother sings.

Yves Dupoyet, biochemist working in the field of reproduction research

What do you think?

Now that you know how aware babies in the womb are to sounds outside
a) how does this affect your ideas on the unborn?
b) what would you like a baby of yours to hear?
c) what things do you think could badly affect him/her?
d) what is your response to the fact that the male voice can be heard better than the female?