Surrogacy takes babies away from the only person they've ever known. https://t.co/kznUAbfjSX
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) August 10, 2025
Your baby knows your voice, even before they enter the world. As the senses activate between 24-26 weeks of gestation, the tone of our own mothers’ voice is one of the very first things we experience as humans (second only to her heartbeat, most likely). And a whole host of research (which you’ll be able to learn about in my next book, Wonderment) documents their recognition of - and preference for - mom’s voice while still in utero. But my favorite study on this topic measured this preference in the days immediately following birth. Using a specially rigged electronic pacifier, researchers established a baseline rate of sucking for each participating infant… then they inserted a new variable. When the newborns began sucking faster than their baseline, a recording of their own mother’s voice (reading a story) was activated. If they began to suck more slowly, a stranger’s voice would read the same passages. 80% of the children in the study successfully modified their behavior to hear their own mother’s voice. The next day these kids were brought back to try again, only this time the situation was reversed. This time to hear their mother they had to suck more slowly. And after some experimentation, 100% successfully modified their behaviors to privilege the sweetest sound they knew: their own mom’s voice. I loved this video from the Leslie Rodriguez on IG that shows baby’s response at 3 weeks. Rest assured she knew and loved your voice even before you met!
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