Obstetrician Dr. Akira Ikegawa conducted surveys at clinics, child-care facilities, and schools, interviewing children aged one to six years. The results were astonishing. Over 40 percent of children said they remembered being in their mother's womb. Over 50 percent had memories of their own birth. Dr. Ikegawa also confirmed these circumstances with the mothers.

This thought-provoking little book presents dozens of detailed examples of such responses in the children's own words, along with an appendix of actual survey results and endearing illustrations.
Children reported their own sensations as well as what others said and did. They also reported scenes and environments they experienced prenatally with their moms - music, parks, sunsets, even TV shows.
Memories are found more frequently with children whose mothers (and fathers) talked to them while they were still in the womb. For better bonding, Dr. Ikegawa encourages both parents to talk to babies prenatally, and mothers to hold their baby immediately after delivery. Hug-reluctant mothers become readier through wombside chatting to their baby-to-be.

Dr. Ikegawa also found that the frequency, strength, and detail of womb memory correlated to the amount and type of prenatal talk, as well as the quality of the surrounding environment.

Babies hear the voices of their mother and father while in the womb, and love and care about their parents even before birth. Conditions inside are typically comfortable enough, but some babies feel cold and lonely. And birth can be traumatic. About his difficult delivery, one child reported, "It was hard being born. It was cold when I came out. First I saw the doctor..."

Small children often seem to know when a baby is in the womb - sometimes even before the mother does. And they're eager to spread the news! When someone accidentally bumped into one woman, her little boy worried, "Mommy, is the baby all right?" Surprised, she asked him, "Is there a baby in Mommy's tummy?" Rubbing her stomach, he answered, "Yes, it's a girl!" Soon after, a checkup revealed that she was indeed pregnant.

And babies may be angels after all: in one family, when a second son was born, the first son confided, "We were watching Mommy from the sky together, and I told him, 'I'll go first,' and I came." Said a little girl whose parents had waited five years before starting a family, "I chose Mommy and Daddy. I was waiting for a very long time."

Mother-baby bonding begins in the womb. Speaking warmly and frequently to babies in utero, and hugging them right after birth, strengthens this bond. But is after birth too late to start? Dr. Ikegawa's heartfelt response: "It's never too late. From now on, give your children a lot of messages that say you care about them."

And what messages can we take away, from this surprising and heartwarming little book? Dr. Ikegawa: "Your baby chose you, and took the trouble to come into this inconvenient world. Welcome your baby... Talk to your baby a lot and give many hugs. You finally got to meet each other!"