Prenatal and Postpartum Scenario Essay

There is importance to providing a safe and healthy environment for your child to develop and grow, whether it be during gestation or the first few months of life. In this pamphlet we will discuss the activities that a pregnant or postpartum woman can do to positively affect their infants future development. There will be discussion as to why each activity is important and also how it will affect your Childs future development. The following activities are for pregnant women who want to positively affect their future Childs development. During the gestational period playing music has shown to be beneficial to a Childs development, studies show an enhancement in verbal skills, as well as spatial, and emotional skills (Ho, March). The next activity is frequently talking to your unborn child, this helps to build a bond and your baby will recognize your voice at birth. Engaging in belly massage throughout your pregnancy will assure your unborn child it is loved even before you are able to hold him or her in your arms. There is a way to get your partner involved to in this activity, having your partner massage your belly with oil will release pleasure hormones to your child, providing you with stress relief and relaxation. It is important to always be aware of stress levels while pregnant, stress hormones can make your child feel anxious. Engaging in activities such as prenatal yoga, meditation, or even relaxing in a warm bath can provide much needed relief from stress. (Black, Jan). The activities in this section are focused on postpartum period to positively affect your Childs future development. The first activity is skin to skin contact with your newborn. This will foster the bonding between you and your child. This helps the newborn to feel a sense of security and builds positive self esteem. This can also help to reduce pain from childbirth experience for new mothers (Berger, 2010). The next activity is simply talking and reading to your child everyday. This  activity will develop language skills through imitation of the sounds heard, it also helps to offer a larger vocabulary to your child. (Berger, 2010). Another great activity is giving your baby a massage. This will relax your baby which is especially helpful at bedtime. There are therapeutic reasons as well, it can reduce gas and colic making for a happy baby and mom. (Spehar & Frey, 2001). References Berger, K. (2010). Invitation to the Lifespan. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Black, S. (January 17, 2001). Getting to Know You†¦:Tune into Your Swelling Belly to Give Your Baby a Head Start. Daily Record, 8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/327648644 Ho, L. (March 31 2000). Unborn Thrive on Music. South China Morning Post, 4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/265578863 Spehar, J., & Frey, R. (2001). Infant Massage. The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3(3.4), 2328-2331.