It’s an opportunity for baby to hear and become familiar with their parents’ voices and the languages they speak.
Baby is beginning to ‘wire up’ for the language that’s used in their family home.
It’s an opportunity to develop a way to soothe baby when it needs help settling after birth.
How to do it
Choose something to read that you enjoy, as it’s likely you’ll be reading it many times.
If baby has an older sibling, one of their favourite picture books would be a good choice to read to baby. It could be read together — or maybe the sibling could read it to baby themselves?
Baby’s ears are filled with amniotic fluid, so they hear as if they’re under water. Reading in ‘parentese’ will help baby to hear the story from the womb.
Parentese is a way of talking — use a higher pitch, speak more slowly and exaggerate vowel sounds.
Tuakana
tuakana
Elder brothers (of a male), elder sisters (of a female), cousins (of the same gender from a more senior branch of the family)Maori | Noun
Older sibling/cousin of the same gender
Tungāne
tungāne
Brother (of a female), male cousin (of a female)Maori | Noun
Brother of a girl
Tuahine
tuahine
Sisters or female cousins (of a male)Maori | Noun
Sister of a boy
Rongo
rongo
To hear, feel, smell, taste, perceive - used for all the senses except sightMaori | Experience verb
Hear
Whakarongo
whakarongo
(whakarangona) to listen, hear, obeyMaori | Verb
