I practiced prenatal/fetal education to DD since she was four month in my womb. I will continue the perinatal education after she arrived.

I believe the importance of pre- and perinatal education cannot be underestimated. They give a head start of parent-child bonding, organize the baby’s brain, and possibly shape a baby’s future personality and psychological, mental and behavioral developments.

I find support from Brain Child by Mark R. Pitzer, a post-doctoral neuroscientist of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. He writes, “Research suggests that a child’s intellectual development is influenced equally by their inherited genetic blueprint and the early immediate environment.”

A child’s early environment, Dr. Pitzer continues in his paper, literally sculpts and molds the brain, influencing how a child perceives his or her world each and everyday, for the rest of their life. This so-called “long arm of childhood” ultimately influences the adult’s capabilities, likes, dislikes, how they respond to stress, their abilities to complete problems, IQ, etc.

Dr. Pitzer’s idea is echoed by Dr. Thomas R. Verny, one of the world’s leading authorities on the effect of the prenatal and early postnatal environment on personality development and founder of the Association for Pre- & Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH).

In his 2002 book Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception Through Infancy , Dr. Verny suggests that experience during the critical periods of prenatal life and early postnatal life organize the brain, and have more influence over intelligence, emotions and the structure of the brain than we thought before.

He advocates parents to consciously provide widows of opportunities to nurture a child’s brain during the early years and actualize their child’s full potential.

In her book What to Expect the First Year , Heidi Murkoff further points out that the first three years of life have a huge impact on the quality of a child’s life.

Why the early life experiences are so important in to the formation of the human being he/she will eventually become?

Because this early stage, more than any other period in our lives, materially affects the architecture of the brain (from Tomorrow's Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception Through Infancy by Dr. Thomas R. Verny), causing its connections to strengthen and its neurons to survive and grow (from Brain Child by Mark R. Pitzer).

While a child’s brain, according to researchers, grows to 90 percent of its adult capacity during those first three years (from What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff).

That is why I pay careful attention in pre- and perinatal education. So far, DD is doing well. She is very healthy physically and quite advanced mentally compared to other babies in her age group. Grandma said possibly it is contributed to my fetal education.

In addition, I am going to start a new series: Baby Training. This series records, month by month, the perinantal education I gave and will give to DD when she grows up. Welcome to ride with us and see whether these trainings can help you train your baby.

Tags: Pre- and perinatal education | Baby Training, Fetal Education, First Year, From Mommy | mommy | September 20, 2008 9:09 am | Comments (0)