How much does an unborn child really know?

Doctors used to think (and some still do!) that all a pregnant woman can do to ensure her baby’s health is eat well and exercise–genes will take care of the rest. But more recent research has laid to rest the myth that the unborn child is not a sophisticated enough organism to react to anything other than its nutritional environment. It turns out that the more researchers learn the more they realize how sophisticated the fetal and infant nervous system that has vast sensory and learning capabilities is: “The truth is, much of what we have traditionally believed about babies is false. They are not simple beings but complex and ageless—small creatures with unexpectedly large thoughts,” writes David Chamberlin in his book The Mind of Your Newborn Baby.

We now know that the developing fetus receives more than nutrients from the mother; the mother’s emotional health as well as…