Clear at a glance
- Singing can improve the mood of babies: A Yale-led study found that babies whose parents sing often have a calmer and better mood.
- Simple and easy-to-use intervention: Singing is a natural, low-cost way for parents to support their baby’s health without complex tools or training.
- Potential broader benefits: Improved infant mood may have a positive impact on family health and help reduce stress and postpartum depression in caregivers.
Singing to babies can meaningfully improve their mood, according to a published study led by Yale University Child development. The study shows that this simple instinct practice not only calms the picky baby, but also may benefit the health of the family.
“Singing is something anyone can do, and most families are already doing it,” said Eun Cho, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale Children’s Research Center and co-first author. “We show that this simple approach can bring real health benefits to babies.”
The study involved 110 parents, most of whom were under four months of age. Encourage a group to sing more and support songs, videos and weekly music creativity. Over the course of four weeks, all participants received a daily smartphone survey on infant emotions, worries, caregivers’ moods and musical activities.
“When there are others that are equally effective and easy to adopt, we don’t always need to focus on expensive, complex interventions.”
Lidya Yurdum, co-author of Lidya Yurdum, a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam.
Parents naturally start singing, especially to soothe picky babies. “We didn’t say to parents, ‘We think you should sing to babies when your baby is picky, but that’s what they do,” said Samuel Mehr, director of the Music Lab. “Parents are intuitively inclined to music as a tool to control their baby’s emotions.”
The survey shows that babies whose parents sing more frequently generally have significantly improved moods, not just during music.
“Every parent knows that the mood of a baby affects everyone around the baby,” Mel said. “If improvements to the baby’s mood persist over time, they’ll likely outline other health conditions.”
Researchers are launching a new study, Let’s grow togetherassess the long-term effects of singing on infants’ mood, sleep and possible caregivers, including stress or postpartum depression.
“Even before we intervened, these participating families were particularly musical,” Yurdum noted. “Nevertheless… we saw the benefits. It shows the power of singing… in a family that is not dependent on music, it may be stronger.”
Previous research from the Music Lab shows that lullaby is a universal human behavior that is often communicated assurance. “The parents sent a clear signal to the baby in the lullaby: I’m nearby, I hear you, I’m looking for you – so things are not good.”
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Posts Can your personality predict your mental health? First appeared in MQ Mental Health Research.
