Abstract
Background
Mother–infant bonding is of great importance for the development and the well-being
of the baby. The aim of this Concurrent Cohort Study was to investigate the effects
of mothers singing lullabies on bonding, newborns’ behaviour and maternal stress.
Methods
Eighty-three (singing cohort) and 85 (concurrent cohort) women were recruited at antenatal
classes at 24 weeks g.a. and followed up to 3 months after birth. The Prenatal Attachment
Inventory (PAI) and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) were used to assess
maternal-foetal attachment and postnatal bonding.
Findings
No significant influence was found on Prenatal Attachment; by contrast, Postnatal
Bonding was significantly greater (i.e. lower MIBS) in the singing group 3 months
after birth (mean 1.28 vs 1.96; p = 0.001). In the same singing group, the incidence of neonatal crying episodes in the
first month was significantly lower (18.5% vs 28.2; p < 0.0001) as were the infantile colic (64.7% vs 38.3%; p = 0.003) and perceived maternal stress (29.6% vs 36.5%; p < 0.05). Infantile colic was reduced in the singing group, even in the second month
after birth (22.8% vs 36.5; p = 0.002). At the same time, a reduction was observed in the neonatal nightly awakening
(1.5% vs 4.7; p < 0.0001).
Conclusions
Mothers singing lullabies could improve maternal-infant bonding. It could also have
positive effects on neonatal behaviour and maternal stress.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Women and BirthAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Attachment and loss, Vol. 1: attachment.Basic Books, New York1969
- Maternal-infant bonding.The C.V. Mosby Company, Saint Louis1976
- Does maternal prenatal attachment predict postnatal mother- infant interaction?.Early Hum Dev. 2000; 59: 13-25
- Étude des propriétés psychométriques d’une échelle d’attachement prenatal Version française de la Prenatal Attachement Inventory (PAI, Müller, 1993).L’Encéphale. 2010; 36: 219-225
- Aspetti neurobiologici dell’attaccamento.G Ital Psicopatol. 2008; 14: 58-71
- Maturation of fetal responses to music.Dev Sci. 2004; 7: 550-559
- La nuit utérine.2nd ed. Editions Stock, Paris1987
- Premassaggio d’amore in gravidanza. Introduzione alla comunicazione psicotattile madre-padre-bambino con esercizi pratici.Editeam, Ferrara, Italy2005
- Fetal learning: a prospective randomized controlled study.Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2002; 20: 431-438
- Of human bonding: newborns prefer their mother’s voices.Science. 1980; 208: 1174-1176
- La relazione Sonora.Ed. La Scuola, Brescia, Italy2009
- In principio era il suono.Quaderni ACP. 2010; 17: 89-91
- Prenatal maternal speech influences newborns’ perception of speech sounds.Infant Behav Dev. 1986; 9: 133-150
- Maternal music exposure during pregnancy influences neonatal behaviour: an open-label randomized controlled trial.Int J Pediatr. 2012; 2012: 1-614
- Prenatal music exposure induces long-term neural effect.PLoS One. 2013; 8: e78946https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078946
- Depression and anxiety during pregnancy: a risk factor for obstetric, fetal and neonatal outcome? A critical review of the literature.J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2007; 20: 189-209
- The relationship between women’s attachement style and perinatal mood disturbance: implications for screening and treatment.Arch Womens Ment Health. 2008; 11: 117-129
- Effects of music therapy on psychological health of woman during pregnancy.J Clin Nurs. 2008; 17: 2580-2587
- Is prenatal bonding enhanced by prenatal education course?.Minerva Ginecol. 2007; 59: 125-129
- L’amour scientifié: les mécanismes de l’amour.Jouvence ed, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois1999
- The effects of mothers’ singing on full term and preterm infants and maternal emotional responses.J Music Ther. 2008; 45: 273
- Lullabies and playsongs: why we sing to children.Zero Three. 2002; 23: 31-34
- Certificato di assistenza al parto (CEDAP). Analisi dell’evento nascita. Anno 2010.Direzione Generale del Sistema Informativo e Statistico Sanitario, Roma2011
- Development of a prenatal attachment inventory.West J Nurs Res. 1993; 15: 199-215
- Assessing prenatal attachment in an Italian women sample.J Reprod Infant Psychol. 2008; 26: 86-98
- A new mother-to-infant bonding scale: links with early maternal mood.Arch Womens Ment Health. 2005; 8: 45-51
- Pertinence of the self-report mother-to-infant bonding scale in the neonatal unit of a maternity ward.Early Hum Dev. 2011; 87: 281-287
- Infantile colic: facts and fiction.Ital J Pediatr. 2012; 38: 34
SAS Institute Inc. SAS 9.1.3 Help and Documentation, Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc. 2002–2004.
- The limerick lullaby project: an intervention to relieve prenatal stress.Midwifery. 2012; 28: 173-180
- L’esposizione auditiva fetale: uno strumento per l’indagine sulle origini dello sviluppo psichico.Imago. 1997; 2: 89-106
- Mother-to-infant and father-to-infant initial emotional involvement.Early Child Dev Care. 2007; 177: 521-532
- Effects of choir singing or listening on secretory immunoglobulin A, cortisol, and emotional state.J Behav Med. 2004; 27: 623-663
- Music therapy in paediatrics.Clin Pediatr. 2007; 46: 575-579
- Focus on infantile colic.Acta Paediatr. 2007; 96: 1259-1264
- Update on infantile colic and management options.Curr Opin Investig Drugs. 2007; 8: 921-926
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: February 04, 2017
Accepted:
January 18,
2017
Received in revised form:
December 12,
2016
Received:
June 30,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
