31 Weeks Pregnant - bonding with baby
Weekly pregnancy updates from a childbirth educator, doula and mum to 2 little girls. Come and join me on my journey as I share how I’m feeling, how baby is developing, what I’m doing to prepare, and some favourite resources!
For many of us, this past week has been a week of holiday and family time. It certainly has been for me and my family. We enjoyed a few days with some of the extended family, and are loving having a week for just our family at home right now, after a very full year. It’s important to spend time together, bonding as husband and wife, parents with children, siblings with siblings.
And it’s just as important to spend time bonding with baby! Of course, that will be close to a 24/7 activity after baby arrives, but even before birth, studies show that babies respond and react very well to deliberate bonding from the parents and family. It’s been several weeks now since baby has been able to hear our voices, which by the time he’s born will be so familiar and soothing to him as he comes out of his comfort zone into the new big and strange world.
Bonding with baby can mean so many things. A mother thinking loving and happy thoughts about her baby changes her brain chemistry, and the hormonal reaction gets transmitted to the baby as well. Family talking to baby while stroking mum’s belly is a direct way of interacting with baby, which baby recognises and appreciates more and more as time goes on.
I also love singing to my babies. Studies have shown the effect on babies in the womb while the parents sing to them, and it’s quite striking. Even more effective, is when you have a specific song or two you sing. Baby learns the song, so singing that (with your already familiar voice) after they are born can be super effective in comforting them. They might not have the familiar space where they’ve been growing for the past nine months or so, but the voice and the song are so familiar and soothing. I love JJ Heller lullabies for pregnancy and singing with newborn babies and toddlers. See the resource section below for my top favourites I’ve sung with my babies!
What symptoms am I feeling?
I am definitely feeling the weight I’m carrying! Moving in bed feels even more like an Olympic sport than it has done for the past few months. But apart from that I haven’t noticed any particular symptoms this week.
How has baby been developing this week?
Baby has completed most major development, though still needs time to for various organs to mature and be fully ready for life in the outside world. At around 41 cm and 1.6-2kg, the big focus now is putting on weight.
What am I doing to prepare?
It’s been a very family-focused week, and I’m going to be completely honest and just say that with everyone off work and sleeping later in the mornings, I haven’t been getting up early to do my Spinning Babies® exercises and other birth prep. I missed a full week, but with the New Year I was ready to get back into it all and am now back on track with my daily prep. Do I think it's important to have regular preparation time? Absolutely! Do I feel bad that I missed a week? Not at all. It’s not every week that we get to spend so much time together as a family, and I think it’s important to soak it up. The important thing with birth prep is regularity and consistency, and missing a day or even a week here or there is not a problem if it’s a deliberate choice to prioritise other things we need. All that matters is that we get straight back into it!
A favourite resource:
JJ Heller’s songs are great for singing along with your little ones! My favourites have been “I Get to Be the One”, “Hand to Hold”, “Big Love, Small Moments” and “Ordinary Days”.
And that’s it for this week! 🌿💛
[Image credit: Photo by Ahmed Al Munther on Unsplash]