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Here's why you MUST read to your unborn

Reading together gives parents and kids that special bonding time. So, we could say that the earlier, the better, right? But how early is early?

Author

Daniel Hoadley
November 05, 2024

Here’s why you MUST read to your unborn

As you've probably heard, reading to babies early on is packed with benefits. Studies show that parent-child book reading can give a real boost to kids’ cognitive skills, helping with memory and learning (Bojczyk et al., 2016; Ece Demir-Lira et al., 2019). It’s also great for language development (Crowe et al., 2018) and even helps kids pick up social skills (Aram et al., 2017).

Plus, reading together gives parents and kids that special bonding time (Bus et al., 1997). Those cozy moments help create positive feelings and deepen connections.

So, we could say that the earlier, the better, right? But how early is early?

Well, a recent study that took two years to complete explored how beneficial it might be to start reading to babies while they’re still in the womb. Surprisingly, this area hasn’t been researched much—even though we know that fetuses can start to hear and feel things around the 18th week.


Overview

  • Participants: 10 couples

  • Structure: Two phases—first while the baby was in the womb and then again when the child was around 24-27 months old.

  • Method: Each couple received six books to read to their child. They were interviewed before and after the study period to capture any insights


Results

The researchers found 6 common themes throughout the interviewing stage:

  1. Learning and Love
    Six out of ten mothers continued reading the same study books to their children after birth. This continuity held emotional significance for many families.

  2. Seeing the Baby as a Person
    Starting book-reading practices before birth combined learning and love, helping parents develop their representation of their baby.

  3. Natural or Weird?
    Mothers had different ways of reading to their unborn babies—sometimes reading alone, with a partner, or with other children. While some felt natural reading aloud, others were more comfortable involving a toddler or partner, especially if fathers participated.

  4. Fathers’ involvement
    Fathers showed varying levels of engagement: some listened or glanced at the books, while others actively read along. For three families, reading became a bonding activity, with two fathers continuing to read to the child post-birth. Mothers noted that this was a unique opportunity for fathers to bond with the unborn child.

  5. Focusing on now and envisioning the future
    Reading helped parents feel more connected to the pregnancy, allowing them to slow down and be present while imagining their child’s future. Many described reading as similar to having a child on their lap, fostering a strong bond.

  6. Who is this for?
    Some mothers viewed the practice as directly benefiting the baby—hearing words and the mother’s voice—while others saw it as a way to start bonding. One parent noted that the practice could shape future shared book-reading behaviours.


So what does this show?

Well, it doesn’t prove that reading to a baby in utero will make your child a genius, but it does seem to set the stage for parent and baby bonding. What stands out to me most is how it helps fathers feel more connected, especially since they don’t experience pregnancy in the same physical way mothers do. It’s hard to fully grasp that there’s a tiny person in there, especially when you can’t see or hear the baby the way a mother can.

For dads who might feel a bit detached or alienated, reading to your partner’s belly can actually be a game-changer in starting that bond with your child.

Feeling a bit hesitant about it? Totally understandable—it can feel strange to read to someone who can’t respond. But honestly, that feeling fades with each page, and before you know it, it becomes second nature.

One tip to make it feel less awkward: get your partner involved. My partner and I used to take turns reading a Disney story to our baby—one page each. We’d add silly voices, like "You can FLY, Dumbo?!", which would crack us up, adding another layer of fun. Plus, it felt like a little team-building exercise, a small thing we could do together before the baby arrived.


Final thoughts

It’s wild to me that there hasn’t been more research in this area. After hours of scouring the internet, this was the only study I found that provided credible info.

There’s so much potential here—imagine how understanding these early bonding effects could impact areas of child development well into adolescence and even adulthood.

There’s definitely more to explore, and I’m excited to see what the future holds.

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