Enhancing Early Speech, Parental Bonding and Infant Physical Development Using Prenatal Intervention in Standard Obstetric Practice

Introduction Over the past 10 years there has been an exponential increase of our knowledge and awareness of fetal-sensory capability and consciousness [Verny and Kelly (1981), Chamberlain (1983)]. Interest in the possibility of the effects of prenatal-fetal stimulation upon fetal learning has been investigated by Verny et. al. (1981), DeCasper (1985) and Van de Carr, Lehrer & Van de Carr (1984). Most studies in this area have concentrated upon laboratory investigation of fetal capabilities and potential ability to respond to prenatal interventions [Sontag (1944), Spelt (1948), Jensen and Flottrop (1982)]. Investigators have also been interested in how parents and infants initially bond after birth [Klaus and Kennell (1982), Swanson (1978), Peterson and Mehl (1978), Sveja (1980)]. Until recently these studies have primarily concentrated upon the mother's role in bonding with her newly born infant. The fathers role in becoming acquainted with his new offspring has received little or no attention until quite recently [Greenberg and Morris (1984)]. Most of the studies on parent-infant bonding have concentrated upon the emotional readiness of parents prior to the birth of their babies in relation to how parents rated their interaction with their new babies [Roberts (1983)] or in programs designed to enhance emotional bonding after birth by enhancing emotional bonding prior to birth such as the small group study by Carter-Jessop (1981). The Prenatal University program as started by Van de Carr (1979) is unusual in that it has been exclusively used in private medical and birthing practices with patients who are undergoing regular obstetric care prior to the birth of their infants. Thus, it represents applications of prenatal stimulation to the general population and is meant for clinical use. The program presents materials designed to enhance fetal development, early communication, brain growth, and to promote better health practices during pregnancy. Parents who use this program receive this information. The formal aspects of the program include and instruction manual that is given to parents at 3-4 months before the expected due date of the baby, a video tape that is viewed in the physician's office, a brief question and answer period with the primary physician, and audio tapes of the manual if requested. The instruction manual for prenatal enhancement includes exercises designed to create paired associations between words spoken by the parents and simultaneously presented physical actions, tactile and visual stimuli. The program also presents guidelines to assess optimal fetal responses, recommendations for proper diet to keep mother in good health, and suggestions for suppliments to promote brain growth in the fetus. The manuals are written in easy to understand language to maximize use by parents of varied educational backgrounds. The exercises are also designed to aid in mother-infant bonding and father-infant bonding as the parent does the exercise in cooperation with other family members and learns to treat the fetus as a developing organism with an individualized reactivity to the presented stimuli. Cooperative activities and role modeling prior to the birth of the baby are also designed to promote communication and to develop parent responsiveness to fetal activity as a model for later positive interaction with the infant. [Van de Carr and Lehrer (1984)] We have recently added a second instructional manual and series of exercises for the first 4 months following birth. The emphasis in this part of the program is on providing continuity for the presented word lists from the prenatal period and to further enhance early decision making capabilities in the infant. The philosophy of both instructional manual deemphasizes the notion of "packing" the infant with stimuli and, instead, uses the fetal and infant responses as guides for presenting enhancement exercises [Van de Carr and Lehrer (1984 c)]. …