Singing to Infants Improves Their Mood, Study Shows
What if something as simple as singing could boost a babyβs mood? A new study suggests that this everyday act might have measurable emotional benefits for infants. Using real-time data collected through smartphones, researchers explored how music-based parenting can influence early emotional development. Their findings point to a surprising but powerful connection between song and emotional wellbeing in the first months of life.
Singing to infants is a cross-cultural behavior observed in nearly every society. Lullabies and other forms of infant-directed song have been used for centuries to bond with babies, soothe distress, and communicate emotional presence β often long before verbal language develops.
About the study
A peer-reviewed study published in Child Development in May 2025 examines whether encouraging caregivers to sing more to their babies can influence infant wellbeing. Conducted by an international team from institutions including Yale University (United States), the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), and the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the study used smartphone-based surveys to measure real-time responses. The authors report that their four-week intervention significantly increased infant-directed singing and led to measurable improvements in infant mood.
What the Researchers Investigated
The study aimed to determine whether a short-term, low-cost music enrichment intervention could causally improve infant mood. The research was led by Eun Cho (Yale University), Lidya Yurdum (University of Amsterdam), and Samuel A. Mehr (University of Auckland), among others. The authors framed the study as a randomized controlled trial using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture real-time mood data from caregivers.
Music is one of the earliest shared experiences between caregivers and infants. Prior research has suggested that musical interactions can support emotional attunement and parentβchild synchrony, making it a promising area for studying early mood regulation.
How the Study Was Conducted
The research involved 110 caregiver-infant pairs from the United States and New Zealand. Infants were on average 3.67 months old, and the participant pool was predominantly white, highly educated, and socioeconomically advantaged. The goal was to test the impact of a music enrichment program on infant and caregiver emotional outcomes.
Caregivers were randomly assigned to either a music intervention group or a control group. Those in the intervention group participated in a four-week program that encouraged them to sing more frequently to their infants, facilitated by brief smartphone-based prompts and music instruction videos.
Participants completed smartphone surveys one to three times daily over a 10-week period. These surveys asked about infant mood, caregiver mood, stress, sleep quality, and music-related behaviors. The intervention began with a one-week baseline period, followed by the four-week enrichment phase and a post-intervention follow-up period. The study used ecological momentary assessment techniques to gather real-time data and minimize recall bias.
What Makes This Study New
The authors highlight the novelty of using ecological momentary assessment in a randomized music enrichment trial focused on infants. According to the paper, βthis is the first study to use EMA to examine effects of music enrichment on infant mood in naturalistic settings.β
Compared to prior observational or retrospective studies on parent-infant musical interaction, this work offers real-time data and experimental control. The authors also note that singing increased without specific prompts to use it for soothing, suggesting that caregivers naturally integrated music into their routines.
Key Findings from the Study
The study found that βthe frequency of infant-directed singing increased significantly in the intervention group.β Caregivers in this group also reported βgreater post-intervention improvement in general moodβ among their infants, compared to those in the control group. While previous studies have often highlighted the social bonding aspects of music in early life, this research supports the possibility that music may also play a causal role in shaping emotional states, at least as perceived by caregivers.
In addition, βsinging was the only soothing strategy that increased following the intervention, despite no specific instruction to use singing for soothing.β This result is particularly relevant, the authors argue, because it shows that caregivers intuitively turned to music in response to distress, reinforcing the idea that singing is both accessible and natural as a parenting tool. The study observed increased singing particularly during periods when infants were fussy or crying, underscoring musicβs role in daily emotion regulation.
Interestingly, the study did not detect any significant changes in caregiver mood, stress, or sleep quality. The authors note that while singing can be an enjoyable activity for caregivers, the intervention may not have been intensive or long enough to yield measurable changes in their own wellbeing. However, they emphasize that the primary goal was to understand infant outcomes.
The authors also reported high participant engagement: βRetention and survey response rates were high (92% and 74% respectively), demonstrating the feasibility of using EMA in infant research.β The studyβs methodology is notable for its use of real-time smartphone data collection, which helped capture natural patterns of behavior and emotion that might otherwise be missed in traditional laboratory-based studies.
Authorsβ Conclusions
The authors suggest that βa causal relationship exists between infant-directed singing and improvements in infant mood,β based on the pattern of changes observed across the 10-week study window. They also emphasize that such an approach is low-cost, simple to deliver, and easy to integrate into existing parenting routines.
The paper does not claim that music enrichment replaces professional support or therapy. Rather, the findings point toward the potential value of everyday behaviors β such as singing β as part of an emotionally nurturing environment in early life.
The intervention was intentionally designed to be low-cost, brief, and delivered remotely. The authors suggest that this format may make it feasible for adaptation in a variety of settings, although further research is needed to evaluate broader implementation.
Limitations and Future Research
Importantly, the researchers caution against overgeneralizing their results. The sample population, drawn largely from highly educated, affluent families in the U.S. and New Zealand, may not represent broader populations. Cultural differences, access to resources, and baseline parenting styles could all influence how well such an intervention works in more diverse settings. The authors write that βgeneralizability of the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the relatively homogeneous sample.β
They also acknowledge that the mood data for infants were provided exclusively by caregivers and may therefore reflect subjective perceptions. As infants cannot report their own emotional state, caregiver interpretation remains a necessary but imperfect proxy.
The high retention and response rates suggest that participants found the study procedures accessible and easy to integrate into daily routines. This level of engagement is especially notable given the time demands of caring for infants.
Future research might incorporate additional behavioral or physiological markers to complement self-reported data. The authors acknowledge that their sample was relatively homogeneous and encourage future studies to explore how music enrichment might function across different cultural and socioeconomic groups.
Broader Implications
The study is part of a larger research initiative aimed at understanding how music and other cultural practices affect development. The authors are currently conducting follow-up trials with more structured materials and longer durations. One such trial involves a professionally designed singing intervention lasting 12 weeks, with additional measurements of infant behavior, attention, and caregiver-infant synchrony.
If these follow-up studies confirm the findings, researchers may be able to better understand the mechanisms linking music, social engagement, and early emotional development. According to the authors, βthere is a pressing need for accessible, scalable interventions that support infant mental health,β and music-based strategies may be one piece of the solution.
The Role of EMA in Developmental Science
The authors also note that EMA methods may be underused in early childhood research. Their study demonstrates that parents are generally willing to respond to frequent smartphone prompts, and that the data obtained are rich and informative.
EMA allows for data collection in real time, minimizing recall bias and capturing interactions as they naturally occur. For studies involving infantsβwhose moods and behaviors can shift minute by minute β this method provides a more accurate and ecologically valid picture of daily emotional life.
As such, EMA could become a valuable tool in future developmental science, offering a way to assess outcomes that are dynamic and context-sensitive.
Conclusion
This study contributes new evidence linking infant-directed singing to measurable improvements in infant mood, based on real-time reports collected through ecological momentary assessment. The authors emphasize that the intervention was brief, accessible, and designed to fit easily into daily routines. While more research is needed to determine how these findings generalize across populations and contexts, the study opens new directions for understanding how everyday caregiving behaviors may shape early emotional life.
Full article available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14246
The information in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. For medical advice, please consult your doctor.
