The “songlines” is a book written by Bruce Chatwin in Australia in 1987: in his book, composed during a voyage in Australia, Chatwin asserts that the language started as song, and in the aboriginal DreamTime, sang the land into existence for the conscious mind and memory. As one sings, the land, the tree, the rock, the path they come to be and the singers are one with them. The main scopes of the Aborigenal tribes is to exchange the song, and never let the melody fall, along their nomadic journeys from one cape onto Australia to the other one, playing as if this continent were just a gaming table onto which walking.
Their nomadic enduring walking and their continuous singing produces the songlines which have the power to reconnect the individual self with the wholeness. This is the reason why they are holy.
While encountering the work on lullabies made by Giuseppina Persico and her group, an Italian midwife who works in every part of the world, I was really fascinated: here below, the abstract and some interesting findings of this study called “Maternal singing of lullabies during pregnancy and after birth: Effects on mother–infant bonding and on newborns’ behaviour. Concurrent Cohort Study”
Background: Mother–infant bonding is of great importance for the development and the well-being of the baby. The aim of this Concurrent Cohort Study was to investigate the effects of mothers singing lullabies on bonding, newborns’ behaviour and maternal stress. Methods: Eighty-three (singing cohort) and 85 (concurrent cohort) women were recruited at antenatal classes at 24weeks of gestational age and followed up to 3 months after birth. The Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI)and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) were used to assess maternal-foetal attachment and postnatal bonding. Findings: No significant influence was found on Prenatal Attachment; by contrast, Postnatal Bonding was significantly greater (i.e. lower MIBS) in the singing group 3 months after birth (mean 1.28 vs 1.96; p = 0.001). In the same singing group, the incidence of neonatal crying episodes in the first month was significantly lower (18.5% vs 28.2; p < 0.0001) as were the infantile colic (64.7% vs 38.3%; p = 0.003) and perceived maternal stress (29.6% vs 36.5%; p < 0.05). Infantile colic was reduced in the singing group, even in the second month after birth (22.8%vs36.5; p = 0.002). At the same time, a reduction was observed in the neonatal nightly awakening (1.5% vs 4.7; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Mothers singing lullabies could improve maternal-infant bonding. It could also have positive effects on neonatal behaviour and maternal stress. © 2017 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier.
The event that struck me the most was the fact that this Lullaby Evidence Based Story was published and presented by the Australian College of Midwives. I’m grateful to Australia because it is in this land that I learnt the Natural Semantic Metalanguage, the universal language spoken all over the world. I’m grateful to Australia because it is here that this Lullaby study conducted by an Italian team was published: here, in the continent of the songlines.
Lullabies are the primordial songlines, and they are holy also because they can heal the bodies of both the child and the singers: as soon as a lullaby begins, a soothing sense of order infuses into the infantile consciousness. The swaying rhythm is close to the heartbeat and the quiet melodious sounds is a blessed relief from the world’s usual racket; the simple, repeating melody is also a source of comfort, as another researcher on lullaby effect, Ivan Hewett.
Tim Griffith, a neurologist of the Welcome Foundation says: “the emotional part of the brain is being stimulated by music. This decreases the arousal level, and that in turn is affecting babies, children, and I would add, adults, pain and stress levels.
More than this, lullaby helps also premature babies: we have to move to another country, Iran, with a very interesting study in premature new-borns risking their lives: “The effect of listening to lullaby music on physiologic response and weight gain of premature infants” in a study conducted by Fahrat Ahmadshah et al. Here, below the abstract:
Objectives: The environment plays a key role in survival and brain development for premature infants. Recent interest lends consideration to non-pharmacological interventions as a beneficial alternative. This study seeks to investigate the effect of lullaby music on the physiological response and weight gain of premature infants in Mashhad, Iran. Method: In this study, 44 very low birth weight infants ⩽ 34 weeks of gestational age that were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Imamreza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran were enrolled. Infants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the Music group and the Control group. Lullaby music was played through earphones for the Music group. This continued for 8 days at 20 minutes per day. The Control group received routine auditory stimulation. Neonates in the two groups were in stable condition and kept in their isolettes. Infants were monitored for 40 minutes; 10 minutes baseline, 20 minutes into the intervention and 10 minutes post intervention. Data measures were heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation and body weight. Result: The two groups differed significantly in the respiratory rate (p= 0.01) and oxygen saturation (p= 0.001). There were no significant differences in the heart rate (p= 0.24) and weight gain (p= 0.093) between the two groups. Conclusion: Preterm infants respond to lullaby music as evidenced by the changes in their respiratory rates and oxygen saturations. Although this study did not demonstrate an improvement in weight gain, further studies are recommended to examine the effect of music on other growth and developmental aspects (Journal of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, 2010).
Coming back to the work undertaken by Giuseppina Persico and connecting it it the Aborigenal linesong, the evidence which in my opinion was the most interesting is that, through the singing, there is no significant foetal bond to the biological mother, but this occurs only after the birth, when the mother is physically there. This changes the paradigm that things are almost fixed after conceive, and that a maternal-fetus linesong is already in place. This expands the possibilities that other singers of lullabies, grandmother, adoptive mother, aunties, sisters, the baby sitters- and this recalls me the concept of the tribe- of people- I have checked in the scientific literature if there is a voice male/female gender effect when singing lullaby, but nothing has been published yet, so this could be a next step for researches on the lullaby effect- may build their own bond with the baby, independently from the mere fact to be the biological mother. And technology can even help in neonatal intensive care with the recording of lullabies to be listened by tiny little babies through earphones.
Here culture can beat nature, and open to the love building skills to everyone who loves to sing lullabies to children who needs them.
And maybe we also need lullabies while getting older.
And now please…if you want to play the game of the linesong, could you leave the name of the three lullabies you recall and cherish the most?
Please, leave your answer here.
