Talking, singing and reading to your baby before they're born might feel a little strange at first.

After all, you can't see their face. You can't tell whether they're listening. And you probably won't get much of a response.

But your baby isn't completely unaware of the world around them.

As pregnancy progresses, their auditory system develops and they begin to hear sounds from inside and outside the womb. By the later stages of pregnancy, they can hear and respond to sounds, including the rhythm and patterns of voices.

Research into prenatal auditory learning has found that newborns can recognise and respond differently to sounds they've encountered before birth. They may become familiar with aspects of their mother's voice, the rhythm of speech and even particular stories or songs they've heard repeatedly.

Your baby is beginning to become familiar with your voice. And you're beginning to become familiar with the idea of them.

Here are 10 reasons reading to your baby during pregnancy can be a beautiful thing to make part of your days.

1. Your baby can hear your voice

As pregnancy progresses, your baby's hearing develops and they become increasingly able to hear sounds around them.

Your voice is one of the sounds they hear regularly.

When you talk, sing or read aloud, your baby is exposed to the rhythm, pitch and patterns of your speech.

They won't understand the words yet.

But they're beginning to experience the sound of you.

2. Your baby can become familiar with the sounds they hear repeatedly

Babies can learn before birth.

Research into prenatal learning has found that newborns can recognise familiar sounds and patterns they've been exposed to during pregnancy.

That might include a familiar voice, a song or a story that has been read repeatedly.

So if you choose a book and read it regularly, your baby may begin to recognise its familiar rhythm and sound after they're born.

Imagine that.

A voice they've been hearing from the very beginning.

A story that was part of their world before you ever held them in your arms.

3. Reading gives your baby more opportunities to hear language

Your baby isn't learning vocabulary from you yet.

But they're hearing the musical qualities of language: its rhythm, pauses, pitch and intonation.

Reading aloud is different from ordinary conversation. You naturally use more variation in your voice, and books often contain patterns and rhythms that make language particularly interesting to listen to.

These experiences contribute to the rich sound environment your baby is growing within.

4. Your baby may recognise a familiar story after birth

One of the most interesting areas of prenatal research is familiarity.

In studies where pregnant women repeatedly read or played particular sounds during pregnancy, newborns have sometimes shown a preference or changed response when those same sounds were presented after birth.

The important point isn't that your baby will remember the plot of a story.

They won't.

It's the sound and pattern that may be familiar.

Which means that a story you read during pregnancy could become one of the many familiar sounds that helps connect your baby's before-and-after worlds.

5. Reading can become a little ritual of connection

There is another side to prenatal reading that doesn't require a laboratory to understand.

You have a baby growing inside you.

Reading gives you a reason to stop for a few minutes and turn your attention towards them.

You might put your hands on your bump.

You might picture who they will become.

You might smile at something you've read.

You might simply sit quietly and enjoy the fact that they're there.

The book is only part of the experience.

The pause is part of it too.

6. It gives you words when you don't know what to say

Talking to an unborn baby can feel wonderfully natural for some parents.

For others, it can feel awkward.

You might find yourself thinking:

What am I supposed to say?

A book takes away some of that pressure.

You don't have to come up with a meaningful conversation with your bump. You can simply open a page and start reading.

And if the words happen to make you think about your hopes for your baby, your love for them or the person you're becoming as their parent, that's something you get to experience too.

7. Reading can help you begin imagining life together

Pregnancy is a strange in-between time.

You're already a parent in so many ways, but you haven't met your baby yet.

You can prepare the nursery.

Buy tiny clothes.

Choose names.

Feel them move.

And still have no idea what it will actually feel like to have them in your arms.

Reading together can give you a small way to begin imagining that relationship.

Not because you need to practise being a parent.

But because you're already beginning to know this little person in your own way.

8. Your baby doesn't need to understand the words for them to matter

You might wonder whether there's any point reading a book to a baby who can't understand it.

There isn't a need for your baby to understand the meaning.

Right now, they're experiencing your voice.

The rhythm.

The repetition.

The rise and fall of your speech.

And you're experiencing the words too.

That's particularly important when you choose something written with you in mind as well as your baby.

Because pregnancy isn't only about preparing your baby for birth.

It's also about preparing yourself for a completely new chapter of life.

9. It can become a ritual you continue after birth

One of the lovely things about reading during pregnancy is that you don't have to stop once your baby arrives.

You can read the same book when they're in your arms.

The voice they've heard throughout pregnancy is now right beside them.

The words they've heard before can become part of a familiar routine.

And eventually, your baby will begin to look at the pages, reach for the book, respond to your voice and eventually understand the words.

Something that began before birth can grow with them.

10. It gives you a moment to connect with your baby — and yourself

Perhaps this is the simplest reason of all.

Pregnancy can be full.

Appointments.

Decisions.

Physical changes.

Work.

Preparing for birth.

Preparing for a baby.

Thinking about everything that might change.

Sometimes you need a few minutes where you don't have to prepare for anything.

You can simply be with your baby.

Read a few pages.

Put your hand on your bump.

Take a breath.

Let yourself imagine the little person you're waiting to meet.

You don't have to do it every day.

You don't have to finish the book.

You don't even have to feel particularly connected every time.

It's simply a small opportunity to pause and say:

I'm here. You're here. We're doing this together.

So, what should you read to your baby?

If you've decided you'd like to try reading aloud during pregnancy, you might be wondering what kind of book to choose.

The answer is: there isn't one perfect book.

Your baby doesn't need you to choose the most educational, impressive or developmentally advanced book.

They need none of that from you yet.

What matters is that you enjoy reading it enough to want to use your voice.

Rhyming books

Rhythm and repetition make rhyming books particularly enjoyable to read aloud.

You naturally vary your pace, pitch and intonation, creating a richer listening experience than everyday conversation.

And because the words repeat, a favourite book can become wonderfully familiar.

Books with words that mean something to you

There is another reason to choose carefully.

When you're reading words that genuinely resonate with you, something changes in the way you read them.

You slow down.

You feel them.

You might smile.

You might put your hand on your bump.

You might find yourself thinking about the little person you're reading to.

And that is where reading during pregnancy becomes about more than auditory stimulation.

It's a conversation of sorts — even though your baby can't answer yet.

You are giving them words filled with love, hope and reassurance.

And you're giving yourself a few minutes to feel those things too.

A book for you to read to your baby bump — and yourself

This is why we created For You Mama to Read to Your Baby Bump (and Yourself).

It was designed around two simple ideas.

The rhythm is for your baby.

The rhyme creates a gentle, repetitive pattern to hear as you read aloud.

The words are for you, too.

They're written to feel like a conversation with your baby — full of love, hope, reassurance and the things you want them to know about life and about being loved.

Woven through the book are also words of support for you.

Because while you're growing a baby, you're also becoming a mother.

And that can bring a whole lot of feelings with it.

Excitement.

Wonder.

Uncertainty.

Fear.

Love.

Questions about whether you'll be good enough.

Questions about what life will look like once your baby arrives.

You don't have to have all the answers.

You can simply take a few minutes to sit with your baby and read.

Before you know it, that little bump will be in your arms.

And the voice they've been hearing from the inside will be the voice they're hearing right beside them.

Start your story together before you meet.

For You Mama to Read to your Baby Bump (and Yourself)