Sallie Han

"It's one of the ways expectant parents here start to think of their unborn children as persons who are part of their family," said Sallie Han, a researcher at the University of Michigan.
...
Expectant dads also seem to regard belly talk as a way to feel an emotional bond with the developing child, according to Han.

Besides bonding with the expected baby, Han found that belly talk sometimes has another function.In some ways, it serves as an extension of the peculiarly American emphasis on giving children the best possible start in life, beginning even before they are born.

"By reading to their unborn children and playing music for them, some parents feel they may be contributing to their child's eventual success in life," she said."There's a lot of interest in what some child development researchers call 'prenatal education.' But most of the parents I interviewed were also very concerned about pushing their children too hard."

As part of her doctoral dissertation examining the beliefs, Han has been interviewing 15 pregnant couples monthly.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc.

Anthropologist Sallie Han calls this "belly talk" and she joins Charity to define the term, how common it is in America, and how it developed.Han is a researcher with the University of Michigan's Center for the Ethnography of Every Day Life.

Sallie Han, Doctoral Student, University of Michigan
...
Sallie Han (University of Michigan)