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Article courtesy of Web Md

By Carol Sorgen. Reviewed By Cynthia Haines

Jeanne Berkowitz is expecting a baby in late January. In October, Jeanne and her husband went to Hawaii for a “babymoon.” While there, Jeanne got a massage from a woman who works frequently with pregnant women.

“She told me that it was important to massage my belly often to introduce the baby to human touch and to the world outside the womb,” Jeanne recalls, adding that she now massages the baby regularly, as does her husband. “We can often feel him respond by kicking back and changing positions.”

Jeanne says she’s not an expert on the benefits of prenatal massage, but reports that “it’s fun for us, helps us (especially my husband) think of the baby as a real person, and I can’t help but think it has to be good for the baby, too.”

Jeanne might be interested to know that there is indeed science to back up her intuitive feelings. According to Carista Luminare-Rosen, PhD, author of Parenting Begins Before Conception: A Guide to Preparing Body, Mind, and Spirit for You and Your Future Child, research shows that babies in the womb have the emotional and intuitive capabilities to sense their parents’ love. “Prenates can see, hear, feel, remember, taste, and think before birth,” says Luminare-Rosen, founder and co-director of The Center for Creative Parenting in Marin and Sonoma counties, Calif.

Bonding (also known as attachment), says Marilee Hartling, RN, prenatal program manager at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is how babies — before and after birth — learn what the world is all about. “It’s also part of their personality development.

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