In an earlier blog, entitled The Mozart Effect I questioned some of the purported long term benefits of music lessons for children’s mental development. A recent review of studies of using music in the care of premature infants, however, suggests that music can have very positive immediate benefits for preterm infants. Pediatrician Munoj Kumar and his associates in the Neonatal Division of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta reviewed nine studies, randomly selected from more than 180 such investigations, dealing with the use of music in neonatal settings. The study will appear in the Archives of Diseases of Childhood, but an abstract has already been published online at ScienceBlog.com.

According to the report, neonatal units around the world are now using music on an informal basis as an adjunct to traditional medical procedures. Both parents and health professionals have the impression that it is beneficial for these infants. Music such as Brahms Lullaby played to premature infants appears to induce behavioral changes such as calmer infants (and parents), more stable body functions, higher oxygen saturation, faster weight gain and shorter hospital stay than is true for preemies who did not hear the music.

Another interesting finding is that listening to music also reduced the pain associated with the heel pricks used to obtain blood from these infants. Along the same lines another study reported that playing lullabies and nursery rhymes lowered the pain levels that accompany circumcision. Pain levels were measured by heart rate and oxygen saturation and the rates for infants listening to music were indicative of lower than expected pain experience.

Listening to music also seemed to ease the transition from gavages feeding (via nasal or gastric tubes) to bottle feeding with benefits both to the baby and to already overburdened health care professionals. Music not only eased the transition between feeding types but also increased the amount of food ingestion. This music intervention has already been given its own name, “The pacifier activated lullaby system.” Babies who listened to the lullaby music had better feeding rates than did those who did not have the music played to them. This in turn increased body weight and made it possible for the babies to go home sooner.

As usual, some cautions are in order, the studies reviewed used small samples and were not always as rigorous as one might wish. Nonetheless, the consistency of the findings across studies and the increased use of music in neonatal wards suggest that playing lullabies and nursery rhymes can indeed have many immediate positive benefits for premature infants for their parents and for the health care system.