Recently, I visited a Mimi Maternity store in Chicago that was selling the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System.  One of the sales associates was 20 weeks pregnant.  I asked her whether or not she was using the BabyPlus system since she was selling them to customers.  She replied that she was not using one because she was more of an "earth momma" and didn't believe that we needed to be "pushing" babies in the womb to learn.  She felt that once her baby was born that she would have plenty of time to teach her baby what he needed to know. I told her that BabyPlus is not actually "pushing" your child to learn but is helping the child's brain to develop so that it will reach more of its full potential. Research has shown that the mother's heartbeat sounds, which the baby hears 24/7, trigger early brain development during pregnancy. BabyPlus offers a new sound like the mother's heartbeat, but different enough that the baby's brain will automatically compare that sound with it's mother's heartbeat.  Then, as the BabyPlus curriculum changes over time, the baby's brain will compare each new sound to previous sounds.  This comparing and contrasting helps enhance the baby's cognitive development so that when the baby is born, he will have "exercised" his brain and it will be receptive to learning at a higher level.  At that point, the sales associate said that explanation made a lot of sense to her.  She was not forcing her baby to learn in the womb but offering him an opportunity to strenthen his learning ability.  Kathy ended up buying a BabyPlus and wearing it to work to talk to other mothers about the importance of prenatal learning.   

Posted by LJ Russell