Connecting With Your Baby In Utero Through Song

Figuring out a newborn’s needs can be tricky, and sometimes a baby will cry no matter what you do. Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool to help you automatically soothe your child? One that also reduces your stress? Join Adriana in this In Memoriam episode, as she revisits her conversation with the renowned Penny Simkin to discuss the profound impact of singing to your baby in utero. Discover this invaluable life-long bonding tool that’s fully portable and affordable!

What we talked about:

• How did Penny find out about the benefits of singing to babies, anyway?
• The benefits for you of singing to your baby during pregnancy
• Usefulness of a song in a cesarean birth or when there is separation
• When should you start singing?
• Uses for your child’s song after the birth, and well into their life
• Improving those dreaded car rides!
• Other simple and effective ways of enhancing bonding between parents and babies
• The Caregiver’s Motto, attributed to Penny Simkin

Related resources*:

• Singing to the Baby YouTube video
• Parents’ Singing to Fetus and Newborn Enhances Their Well-being, Parent-Infant Attachment, & Soothability: Part One, Lamaze “Connecting the Dots” blog
• Parents’ Singing to Fetus and Newborn Enhances Their Well-being, Parent-Infant Attachment, & Soothability: Part Two, Lamaze “Connecting the Dots” blog
• Delivery Method, March of Dimes
• Cesarean Delivery Rate by State, CDC
• Changes in Primary and Repeat Cesarean Delivery: United States, 2016–2021, CDC
• Psychobiology of Bonding and Attachment resource guide, from Phyllis Klaus
• Of human bonding: newborns prefer their mothers’ voices, Science
  • Penny mentions this study in the episode

Penny’s books: 

• The Birth Partner 5th Edition: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions, by Penny Simkin
• Simkin’s Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia, by Lisa Hanson, Emily Malloy, Penny Simkin
• When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women, by Penny Simkin, Phyllis Klaus
• Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide, by Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, Ann Keppler

Related Birthful episodes:

• Effects of Stress During Pregnancy
• Why a Midwife Might Be Just What You Need
• What You Need To Know About Birth Models (Birth What?!)
• Cesarean Risk: What’s Your Place Of Birth Got To Do With It?
• Healing Your Birth Story

Image description: Sharon Muza, Penny Simkin, Neel Shah, and Adriana Lozada at the DONA annual conference in 2018

Image description: Penny Simkin, a white-presenting woman with short gray-brown hair, rests with her hand on her chin, gazing at the camera

About Penny Simkin

Penny Simkin, PT, was a physical therapist who specialized in childbirth education and labor support since 1968. She estimated that she had supported the preparation of over 13,000 pregnant people, couples, and siblings with childbirth education. She assisted hundreds of birthing people and couples through childbirth as a doula. She was the author or co-author of several books for both parents and professionals, including The Labor Progress Handbook, Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide, When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women, and The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions. She developed teaching materials for birth classes and produced several videos for educators, doulas, and families, including one for siblings-to-be called There’s a Baby. She was the co-founder of DONA International (formerly Doulas of North America) and PATTCh (Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth). She also served on the editorial board of the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, and was among senior faculty of the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations at Bastyr University, which was named in her honor.

Penny died in 2024, and is greatly missed.