Forget that excuse that my voice isn't all that great. You don't need to do some vocal warm-ups to be the best singer in the world to your baby and bring calm to baby's world!

While we know that singing has many benefits for language development, research shows it is also critical for baby's socio-emotional development. In fact, babies may be pre-wired to pay closer attention to singing than speaking.

In a study at the International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound in Montreal, 7- to 10-month-old babies were placed in a room where they were without other persons within view and no other stimulation; a mildly distressful situation for most babies. The babies then were made to listen to recordings of someone singing a song or speaking the lyrics to that same song in a way that infants would readily respond to- ie. changes in voice the way we normally would when we sing or speak to baby.

Now here is the interesting variable; the voices the babies listened to spoke or sang in Turkish but babies were from French-speaking families. Those observing the activity, who were not aware of which audio was being played, monitored the babies' faces and measured the length of time it took for the babies to show visible signs of distress.

Remarkably, the babies who were listening to music remained calm twice as long as babies listening to speech. As such the researchers concluded that singing was considerably more effective than speech for delaying the onset of distress.

What is it about music and singing? The researchers suggest that "the temporal patterning of ID singing, with its regular beat, metrical organisation, and tempo, plays an important role in inhibiting distress, perhaps by promoting entrainment and predictive listening."

We can certainly conclude that it doesn't even matter what language you're singing in, music from your unique voice helps calm baby. Not sure what to sing? Try a lullaby or make up your own song about baby. What about your favourite Calypso or Parang song giving them a taste of their own culture in a soothing voice. If you're still stuck for ideas just start by humming a melody you know gradually adding in some neutral syllables like 'loo' or 'la'.

Now this isn't just for mommies. Daddies and other family members and caregivers could sing too! Don't depend on those weird voices on YouTube to do it for you; connect and bond with your baby and sing sing sing!