Hospitalization can stress out anyone, but especially severely premature babies, who are born neurologically immature. Florida State University music therapist Jayne Standley and her colleagues are reducing the trauma and speeding the pace of the infants’ progression with a simple tool: a customized pacifier and a round of lullabies. [paragraph] Babies born before the 34th week have not yet developed the crucial “suck-swallow-breathe” response required in feeding. To help preemies along, Standley and her colleagues invented a pressure-sensitive pacifier wired to a tape player that rewards hearty suckling with a lullaby. Researchers had previously found that playing lullabies noticeably reduces premature infants’ hospital stays. Songs helped here too. Babies trained with the musical pacifier suckled 2.4 times as fast as those denied such reinforcement. Some drained an entire bottle of milk after just 15 minutes of conditioning. “We thought it was our imagination-the response seemed too dramatic,” Standley recalls. [paragraph] Ohmeda Medical in Columbia, Maryland, will begin selling a wireless version of the musical pacifier to neonatal intensive care units later this year. by Rebecca Hirschfield
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One of the most gratifying things that a pregnant woman or new mother can do is sing lullabies to her unborn or newborn infant. Mothers have been doing this for millions of years and not only is it calming and soothing to the infant, but it’s also calming and soothing to the mother, the father, and anyone who is within earshot. As a mother of three daughters, I know that singing or humming softly to them made such a difference in all our lives. Even today, my youngest daughter, now in her 20′s will sometimes ask me to sing her a lullaby!
You may also know that lullabies have been shown to help preemies in a hospital NICU to gain weight faster, stabilize biorhythms faster and get released from the hospital faster. At a cost of $15,000 per day in the NICU, this is a fantastic benefit.
Today I got a new batch of lullaby CD’s to take with me on my next speaking tour. If you hurry, you can get one for your new baby, friend’s baby, or grandbaby! You’ll need to order NOW because I only ordered 50!! These won’t last the weekend if people find out. Click here to order!

To see the lullaby blog, go to http://pregnancyandpreemies.blogspot.com/