Nicole Sampieri, a mom and blogger from Toano, Va., is 36 weeks pregnant with her first child, a boy, and is already taking steps to make his infancy – hopefully – a little more calm. Every night, at a time when he's active, she "shares" the music on her iPod with him. One bud in her ear, and one on her belly. She – and he – prefer classic rock and guided meditations.

"I first started trying to communicate at about week 15," says Sampieri. "I had researched what the baby can really hear and respond to in the womb, and that's what got me into the music thing." After the baby is born, Sampieri is planning to see if playing the same music when he's fussy – or when they've had a bad day – will soothe both of them.

Studies done through the past few decades indicate that this calming effect does occur post-natally, and that there are other benefits to this prenatal communication as well, including increased intelligence.

The idea of learning before birth is not new. In 500 BCE, Confucius suggested that the fetal environment can determine behavior. From then on, the idea of prenatal cognizance was rooted in theory until 1971 when prenatal psychology became an official scientific discipline.

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