Dedicated to My Beloved Regina Alisa…
Hello everyone. Based on the new adventure we have been experiencing as a family, I am dedicating my column for this month to our little beautiful students whom we explore and learn about every day, and I would like to extend my thanks to my daughter as she has determined the subject of this column. As we are in a very new experience and process, we keep learning while getting to know our baby and seeing life through her eyes. In my previous articles, I addressed issues such as music and child, music education starting in the mother’s womb, being a good listener, and the correct age for musical instrument training for children. Now, with this new learning process we are in, I wanted to combine our new experiences and form a column this month. While I was creating various classical music playlists, I frequently heard about the white noise from my friends who had children. They said, “It incredibly affects babies, and they get calm.” So, I wanted to explore this tranquility and calmness I observed in my baby and share it with you. As it is known, babies starting to discover their environment as soon as they are born is an indicator of the sensitivity of their senses. I have learned from the examinations done by my physician and the books I have read that there is an incredible amount of sound in the mother’s womb. I mean, the sounds coming from outside are also heard to a certain extent, but a humming sound accompanies these sounds. It creates some sort of background music. In addition to including the music the baby hears in the mother’s womb after it is born in its life, the white noise frequency has entered our lives. The peaceful and monotonous sounds (the white noise effect) in the mother’s womb help babies find peace in this new world after they are born. The number of studies showing the sensitivity of infants toward white noise and the sounds they hear in the mother’s womb is increasing every passing day. White noise is defined as a sound wave that has equal energy at every frequency. It is assumed that this monotonous sound helps infants relax and sleep. Research has shown that white noise can regulate infants’ sleep and calm them down by masking the noise from the outside world. From my experience, I can say that certain harmonious monotonous sounds really relax the baby. The situation may not be the same in all babies, but the sounds, such as the sound of the hair dryer, drying machine, aspirator, etc., bring a certain amount of tranquility to the baby. Babies’ interest in white noise can be related to their experiences in the mother’s womb. In the mother’s womb, infants are exposed to a continuous noise environment, such as the mother’s heartbeats, stomach murmurs, and outer environmental noise. The brain may respond positively to white noise by recognizing and remembering these sounds. This monotonous sound frequency, similar to white noise, is accompanied by the sounds of the hair dryer, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, and cooker hood, as you might have heard. Parents may frequently prefer to relax their babies by using white noise or the sounds of the mother’s womb. This method can help babies relax and fall asleep, thus ensuring a peaceful atmosphere for the family. This situation, which was just a piece of knowledge, has turned into a useful phenomenon in our experience. Nevertheless, each baby has a different personality and responds differently to different sounds… Parents should be careful when using such methods and observe the reactions of their babies. Each infant is different and sensitive to individual needs. It should be remembered that babies can be irritated by a different sound, no matter how loud it is, and they can be disturbed. Therefore, your priority should be to establish continuous communication with both your physician and pediatrician and to consult them about the methods you will use to calm down your baby. ZEYNEP BULGULU ASRAR Music Instructor / Musician (and now a mother…)
