Introduction to Life Before Birth David Chamberlain, Ph.

D
Through many windows of observation, we can now seefor the first time in
human historywhat is actually happening in the womb. There is good
news and bad news. We can no longer think that the placenta can protect
the prenate from anything bad going on in the mothers body, or that the
mothers body can protect the prenate from bad things going on in her
world. Mother and baby face together the perils of air, water, and earth
compromised by the toxic residues of modern chemistry and physics.
Parents are perhaps the last ones to learn (and their children the first ones
to suffer) these tragic realities of modern life.
Pollution has many sources, beginning with the physical environment
surrounding the mother and father. Numerous chemicals loose in the
environment reach them where they work or find them in the garage or in
cleaning supplies in the kitchen. Solvents, metals, pesticides,
preservatives, fumes, and various forms of radiation are capable of
interfering with reproduction. Chemical pollution also reaches us in the
medical system through prescribed drugs which may put the well-being of
the prenate at risk. Some medicines, like aspirin are hazardous at birth, as
are some powerful anesthetics. Not long ago, an antibacterial soap used
widely in hospitals and dispensed in public areas was discoveredafter
years of useto be neurotoxic.
Parents, too, can be a source of contamination and injury to the unborn
baby as a consequence of their personal habits and lifestyle choices. Drugs
thought to be harmless to adults can be harmful to babies because they are
not able to handle these chemicals in adult doses. Nicotine, caffein, and
aspirin, substances ubiquitous in adult life, can affect the course of growth
and development of babies. The damaging effects of alcohol have been
known for centuries and the most recent research (2005) warns that no
level of alcohol in the pregnant mother is safe. Not so well known, and
perhaps not yet even tested, are the toxic effects of experimental street
drugs which damage parents as well as babies. All these discoveries are
revealing the profound importance of very early parenting, beginning, not at
the time of birth, but even before the time of conception when it is still
possible to avoid a host of serious problems.
An additional reason for parents to begin active parenting at conception is
the discovery that babies in the womb are also developing more rapidly
than previously thought possible. From the second month of pregnancy,
experiments and observations reveal an active prenate with a rapidly
developing sensory system permitting exquisite sensitivity and
responsiveness. Long before the development of advanced brain
structures, prenates are seen interacting with each other and learning from
experience. They seem especially interested in the larger environment
provided by mother and father, and react to individual voices, stories,
music, and even simple interaction games with parents. The quality of the
uterine environment is determined principally by parents.
The opportunities for parents to form a relationship with the baby in the
womb are significant and remarkable. This contrasts sharply with the
previous view that prenates did not have the capacity to interact,
remember, learn, or put meaning to their experiences. Only a decade ago,
doctors typically told pregnant mothers and fathers that talking to a baby in
the womb was useless and unrealistic. Now there is mounting evidence for
memory and learning in utero and for precocious communication before the
stage of language. These abilities of unborn babies underlie the successes
reported in a series of scientific experiments with prenatal stimulation and
bonding. They are also a basis for the personal stories occasionally shared
by children and adults about their experiences before birth.
David B. Chamberlain is a California psychologist born in Connecticut in 1928 and educated at
Randolph-Macon College, Washington State University, and Boston University. His curiosity
about the capacity of prenates and newborns was stimulated by clients having vivid early recall
during hypnotherapy beginning in 1974. This inspired a continuing clinical and scholarly effort
leading to over fifty publications including the popular book, The Mind of Your Newborn Baby
(3rd edition, 1998), currently available in twelve languages. David assisted in organizing the
First International Congress on Pre- and Perinatal Psychology held in Toronto, Canada and
personally chaired the second congress held in San Diego, California in 1985. From 1991 to
1999 he served as President of the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health
(APPPAH). Currently he also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Prenatal and
Perinatal Psychology and Health, and is Founding Editor of birthpsychology.com, the APPPAH
gateway on the Internet.