Here’s some news we wanted to share. According to a New York Times article, New York City’s Beth Israel Medical Center has conducted a study which affirms the special properties of live music. Researchers, who worked with premature babies at 11 hospitals concluded that “live music, played or sung, helped to slow infants’ heartbeats, calm their breathing, improve sucking behaviors important for feeding, aid sleep and promote states of quiet alertness.”

The medical journal Pediatrics has published “The Effects of Music Therapy on Vital Signs, Feeding, and Sleep in Premature Infants,” reaching the conclusion drawn from studying 272 premature infants that “The informed, intentional therapeutic use of live sound and parent-preferred lullabies applied by a certified music therapist can influence cardiac and respiratory function. Entrained with a premature infant’s observed vital signs, sound and lullaby may improve feeding behaviors and sucking patterns and may increase prolonged periods of quiet–alert states. Parent-preferred lullabies, sung live, can enhance bonding, thus decreasing the stress parents associate with premature infant care.”