Fetal education, as its name implies, is the education of the fetus in the womb.
In order to make their [babies] grow up healthily, [don’t lose at the starting line], many parents have started prenatal education since pregnancy: touching their stomachs, telling stories, listening to music, counting and arithmetic…
So…
Can prenatal education really make children smarter?
Before answering this question, let’s look at the popular [benefits of prenatal education].
1. Develop the fetal brain?
There is no basis.
Advocates of prenatal education often say that [the potential of the fetal brain is endless].
They cite the findings of neuroscience research that the number of neuronal synapses responsible for communication increases at birth, peaks at age 3, and then decreases. They believe that music, touch and light stimulation to the fetus can increase the number of neuronal synapses in the baby and make the baby smarter.
However, in fact, whether and how helpful prenatal education is to fetal brain development needs scientific argumentation. However, so far, the results of scientific research have shown that intelligence is not directly related to the number of synapses. There is no direct evidence to prove that any stimulation of the fetus by pregnant women can effectively [promote the development of brain neurons], let alone improve the intelligence of the baby.
2. Let the fetus learn knowledge and skills in advance?
This is not the case.
Advocates of prenatal education, especially those who advocate direct prenatal education, require pregnant women to learn specific mathematics, foreign languages, music and other courses during pregnancy, and believe that this can help the fetus learn relevant fields after birth.
In fact, psychological research has found that there is a “critical period” in the development of infants.
The so-called critical period, It means that individuals will acquire certain knowledge or skills in an explosive way at certain stages. However, So far, there is no critical period that can be traced back to the fetal period. From the perspective of cranial neuroscience, the fetal brain is not well developed, its structure is relatively simple, its function is relatively primitive, and it is far from reaching the shaping level, so the critical period will certainly not fall into the fetal stage.
Can Mozart Music Make Babies Smarter?
There is no evidence.
Among the many prenatal education theories, the most widely circulated is the Mozart effect. Businessmen publicize Mozart’s music as very suitable for prenatal education and young children, and even can make babies smarter.
But in fact, John Medina, an authoritative US neuroscientist, pointed out in 2014:
There is no scientific evidence that Mozart’s music can promote fetal brain development, and even no double-blind randomized trial with any relevant effect detection can be found, and there is no strong evidence that prenatal education courses can improve children’s intelligence level for a long time.
The famous scholar believes that the biggest advantage of the uterus is that it avoids all kinds of stimuli-dark, humid, warm, strong and quiet environment provides the best environment for the early brain development of the fetus. Finally, his advice on prenatal education during pregnancy is: Please keep quiet, the baby is developing.
In this case, there is no evidence that prenatal education can make children smarter!
Origin of prenatal education
It is now generally believed that prenatal education originated in ancient China.
In ancient China, prenatal education mainly refers to keeping pregnant women in a peaceful and relaxed mood, with light diet and nutrition, moderate work and rest, and avoiding external adverse stimulation.
In the West, there is also a similar saying about prenatal education: pregnant women should be in a suitable environment, receive specific education, maintain good mood and absorb sufficient nutrition, thus indirectly affecting the fetus in the womb.
However, in the past 30 years, due to the progress of medicine and cranial nerve science, researchers found that the baby can already feel some sound and light stimulation from the outside world when observing the fetus by modern means such as fetal mirror. As a result, some scholars proposed that the fetus should be developed in intelligence and directly taught music, language, mathematics and other contents to the fetus.
No one wants their children [to lose at the starting line]. It is precisely because of this mentality of parents that direct prenatal education for the fetus has begun to enter the public eye and has become more and more popular in recent years.
Fetal education is different from each other.
According to the object of prenatal education, it can be divided into [direct prenatal education] and [indirect prenatal education].
Indirect prenatal education advocates adjusting the physical and mental conditions of pregnant mothers to promote the healthy development of the fetus. However, direct prenatal education advocates direct knowledge education for the fetus and direct listening to music.
Although direct prenatal education and indirect prenatal education both involve sports, language, music and vision, there are significant differences. For example:
Fetal education, in fact [teach] is pregnant mother
However, many mothers may disagree: [After prenatal education, children really seem smarter than their peers]. Why?
In fact, this is because the prenatal education on the surface actually affects the physical and mental state of the pregnant mother.
Many studies at home and abroad have pointed out that prenatal education does not directly affect the fetus, but affects the secretion of hormones and related nerve media in the body through changes in the mood and mental state of pregnant women, thus indirectly affecting the brain development of the fetus.
Let’s take a look at the 2004 research on music prenatal education in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to the Medical College of Zhejiang University:
Fetal education music can calm and relax the mood of pregnant women, and can be accompanied by a series of physiological changes, such as the decrease of placental circulation resistance and the increase of blood perfusion into the placenta, thus contributing to the increase of nutrition and oxygen supply to the fetus.
This is the real reason why prenatal education works:
When the mother is happy, the baby will grow better.
Excessive prenatal education is not desirable.
Don’t overdo everything. Under the concept of “prenatal education is useful”, many prospective parents believe that as long as they do more prenatal education and exert more prenatal education, their children can become smarter. Little imagine, excessive prenatal education will lead to a series of problems instead.
1. Excessive stimulation affects fetal health,
In terms of music prenatal education, research shows that the intensity of music heard by the fetus should not exceed 60 decibels (probably the volume of normal conversation) and the frequency of music should not exceed 2,000 Hz. However, ordinary families generally do not have measuring tools, so it is difficult to control the intensity of music. There have been reports of newborn hearing impairment caused by excessive sound stimulation at home and abroad.
2. Excessive stimulation affects fetal development,
Some prenatal education requires pregnant women to touch their stomachs anytime and anywhere, talk to the fetus and listen to music for a long time. This long-term stimulation is actually harmful to fetal brain development.
Newborns who have been born still sleep 70% of the time, not to mention the sleep time the fetus needs. In fact, sleep is a positive process of brain, body and psychological development for the fetus. Excessive prenatal education stimulation disrupts the normal production and development rules of the fetus and is more likely to cause harm.
Summary
From a psychological point of view, two concepts need to be clarified:
Feeling ≠ Perception: Although the fetus has feeling, it does not yet have perception, let alone thinking.
Emotion ≠ Emotion: Although the fetus has emotions such as love and fear, it obviously cannot learn knowledge and cultivate aesthetics from prenatal education.
From the perspective of cranial nerve science, it is enough to give the fetus sufficient rest and exercise, sound and light stimulation in the normal environment. Excessive stimulation will damage the development of the fetus instead.
From a medical point of view, as long as the mother’s physical and mental condition is good, the fetus can develop well.
Therefore, whether prenatal education is or not depends entirely on the mother-if the mother thinks that taking a walk, listening to music and talking to the baby can make her physically and mentally happy, then do it. As for higher-intensity stimulation or knowledge learning that is too difficult, it is not necessary.
In addition, if the expectant father can participate in prenatal education, then this ritual behavior can enable the expectant father to adapt to his future role in advance and enhance the relationship with the little fellow. This is not only helpful for the expectant mother to relax physically and mentally, but also helpful for the whole family to adapt to the lifestyle changes after the little fellow is born.