They say music makes the world go round, but did you know it also has a myriad other mental health and wellness benefits such as being calming, aiding sleep, keeping the mind active and assisting learning?

And it’s not just adults at all stages who benefit from music therapy – research shows that music can boost a child’s development and accelerate brain function, among many other things.

Ruth Leon in her book The Sound Of Musicals so eloquently says:

“Everybody sings, the first sounds made by a human baby more closely resemble music than speech. A toddler will sing before he [or she] speaks. He hears music before he recognises words. Dancing is natural. Without volition, the body moves to musical stimulus. Hear a rhythm, sway or stamp or jiggle.”

So how does music actually help a baby develop? For one, it is suggested music has the potential to vastly improve cognitive development.

Researchers at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute followed 37 children from an underprivileged suburb of Los Angeles to come to the finding that, “exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception.”

Meanwhile, researchers at McMaster University in Canada say that kids who participate in interactive music lessons with their parents before they can walk or talk are happier and easier to sooth, tend to communicate more efficiently (they were more likely to point to things they wanted and to wave goodbye), and demonstrate earlier responses to music (such as rhythm).

Even more surprising is that the babies in this study were more likely to remain calm when in unfamiliar situations or when things didn’t go their way, suggesting behavioural improvements and better social skills were as a result of music exposure.

“It helps [babies] to trust the parent because the parent becomes effective at helping the baby to regulate their state,” Laurel Trainor, the director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, told Today’s Parent.

Could this be another way for parents to curb temper tantrums? Sign us up please!

In the McMaster study, the act of playing music also assisted the fine-tuning of motor skills, such as crawling, grabbing and learning which action makes the sound they want to hear.

“Babies, they’re not that coordinated,” says Laurel. “So they have to learn to coordinate their actions, but in response to the information that’s coming in.”

Additionally, a study at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences has found that music has a lasting effect on speech development and pattern perception, which later helps children in academic learning.

“Our study is the first in young babies to suggest that experiencing a rhythmic pattern in music can also improve the ability to detect and make predictions about rhythmic patterns in speech,” says Christina Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at I-LABS, published on the UW website.

“This means that early, engaging musical experiences can have a more global effect on cognitive skills.”

“Infants experience a complex world in which sounds, lights and sensations vary constantly,” says Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS. “The baby’s job is to recognise the patterns of activity and predict what’s going to happen next. Pattern perception is an important cognitive skill, and improving that ability early may have long-lasting effects on learning.”

And music is linked to language-related neurological stimulation. By having strong rhythmic sounds similar to that in speech, the study found music can help babies identify patterns in speech better, boosting brain development for actually learning to speak later on – essentially helping baby to get ahead of the pack by having all the tools before they’ve even begun.

But it’s not all just about cognition. It’s also been observed that music, particularly singing to your child, helps to strengthen the parent-child bond. Whether it’s attending a tot’s music class with your infant or singing to them at bedtime and as you work around the house, researchers at the University of Miami discovered babies engage more with being sung to versus listening to music.

On top of that, it’s also suggested that the interaction helps the parent to become more empowered with their new baby and is even more of a help for mothers suffering post-natal depression.

Want to sing, but don't think you have the voice for it? No sweat!

Grain and Weave, Sydney’s in-home family and baby photography experts, have just released a Spotify playlist of popular rock songs re-recorded into lullabies for your bub. Grain and Weave love to pop a nice relaxing song on to sooth babies during in-home shoots, and they’ve put together their favourites for you to stream here.

Not only you as a parent will know and love the songs, but it’s also calming for bub. So why not crank that up (not too loud, though) and sing along together?

Otherwise, google your closest baby music class to go and jam along. With research like this, how can you say no?

Have you had an experience with a baby music class or would like to recommend one around the Sydney area? Tell us below or on our Instagram page.

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