The Hidden Art of the Lullaby project

The purpose of this project, which was funded by the Wellcome and Hull 2017 small grant award was to engage with participants (members of the public), to develop an appropriate community-sourced, lullaby-based singing intervention for pregnant women and new parents.

The project aimed to test this intervention for feasibility and acceptability with a small group of parents and parents-to-be. The singing intervention was the teaching of locally-sourced lullabies, which were collected from local singers in choirs, curated and recorded specifically for this project. Participants were taught the lullabies by a qualified singing teacher. They then tried out singing them to their unborn/new baby. Building on current evidence that suggests that singing to unborn/young babies is beneficial to them and their parent/s, the project gathered data related to the experiences of participants undertaking the intervention. The project will facilitate the production of a formal research grant application in the future.

The collection of the Lullabies was open to any member of the Hull singing community over the age of 16 years of age (for consent). Those invited were pregnant women and parents (could be mother or father or both parents) of infants under 1 year of age. Parents needed to be be resident in Hull or its surrounds and able to understand and speak English language.

The participants for the music intervention were accessed via the Doula Project (Goodwin) and Home-Start (Hull), a local voluntary agency that provides help and support to families with young children. Pregnant women and new parents who were working with these two organisations were approached by the respective Managers and/or volunteers and were invited to take part in the project.

Home-Start Hull is a branch of Home-Start UK which is a charitable company limited by guarantee (Charity no. in England and Wales 1108837 and in Scotland SC039172. Company no. 5382181). It provides a unique service for families - recruiting and training volunteers to support parents with young children at home.
Home-Start helps families with young children deal with whatever life throws at them. They support parents as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for their children. The benefits of this support include improved health and well being and better family relationships. Volunteers visit the family’s home for a couple of hours every week. They tailor-make their support to the needs of the parents and children.

The Goodwin Development Trust is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with charitable status.Goodwin Development Trust (Company number: 4454814 | Registered Charity No. 1098520). The Goodwin volunteer Doula Project provides support to women during pregnancy and the early weeks of family life.