Are you expecting?!

Congratulations!

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There’s probably a lot on
your mind right now…
Questions like:
• What can my baby learn while still in the womb?
• What’s going to happen to my marriage after we
bring our baby home?
• How can I make sure my little girl is going to
be happy?
• How do I get my kid into Harvard?
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Well, this is John Medina

you might remember him

from his New York Times
bestselling book,
Brain Rules
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 he loves brains

but especially brains in ... kids

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and this is his new book,
Brain Rules For Baby

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John believes parenting is all
about brain development
and in Brain Rules For Baby,
he describes what brain science
can teach us about raising smart,
happy kids.

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Science is great at busting
myths. Have you heard this one?
Myth: Playing
Mozart to your
womb will improve
your baby’s future
math scores.

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Truth from John Medina!

If you want your child to do

well in math, teach her impulse
control at a young age. And
that’s only one benefit.

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Let’s try another one...
Myth: To boost their brain power,
children need French lessons by age 3 and
a room piled with “brain-friendly” toys
and a library of educational DVDs.
Truth from John Medina!
The greatest pediatric brain-boosting technology in
the world is probably a plain cardboard box, a fresh
box of crayons, and two hours. The worst is probably
your new flat-screen TV!

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Truths like these are continually published
in respected scientific journals. But unless
you have a subscription to them, you might
not have heard the news.

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Brain Rules For Baby is meant to let
you know what scientists know about
babies’ brains—without having a Ph.D.
to understand it.

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Let’s peek inside just one
chapter: Pregnancy
Brain Rule: Babies develop an active
mental life in the womb

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“Quiet please: baby in progress”
In the first half of
pregnancy, babies
mostly want to be
left alone.

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Morning sickness, in fact...
might actually be your baby’s way of
making you SLOW DOWN!

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Morning sickness can last the entire
day (and, for some women, the entire
pregnancy). It makes an expecting mom
stick to a bland, boring diet...

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...and the accompanying fatigue could
keep a woman away from physical
activity that might be risky to her
developing baby. But, good news.

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The kids of these poor moms
were 3x more likely to be gifted
A study shows that 21% of children whose mothers
suffered from major nausea and vomiting during
pregnancy scored 130 or more points on a standard
IQ test, compared to only 7% of kids whose mothers
had no morning sickness.
Why? We don’t know for sure yet.
Whatever the reasons, baby goes
to great lengths to get you to leave
it alone.
The second half is a
different story
Babies begin to perceive and process a
great deal of sensory information. 

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For example,
after the sixth month, your baby can smell
the perfume you wear, and she can detect
the garlic on the pizza you just ate.

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But what can YOU actively do to help
your baby while she’s still in the womb?

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An enormous sector of the toy economy
tries to answer this question by playing
off the fears of well-meaning parents.
Pay close attention, for I am about to
save you a ton of money.

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No commercial product has ever been
shown to do anything to improve the
brain performance of a developing fetus.

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In any toy store today, you’ll find products
claiming they can raise your baby’s IQ or
teach him a second language in the womb.
Almost none of these product’s claims are
backed up by in-house testing, let alone by
independent, peer-reviewed research.

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But there ARE things you
can do to aid the cognitive
development of your
baby-under-construction.

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So let’s talk about 4 things

4
scientifically proven to help

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#1: Gain just the right weight

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You’re pregnant, so you need to eat more
food. And if you don’t overdo it, you will
grow a smarter baby. Why? Your baby’s IQ
is a function of her brain’s size.

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In fact, IQ rises with birth
weight, up to 8 pounds

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How much do you need to eat?
That depends
upon how fit you
are going into
pregnancy.

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The bad news is that 55% of women of
childbearing age in the US are already too fat.
If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 25–29.9,
you need to gain only about 15 to 25 pounds
to create a healthy baby.
(You want to add about half a pound a week
in the critical second and third trimesters.)

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If you are underweight, with a BMI of
less than 18.5, you need to gain between
28 and 40 pounds during pregnancy to
optimize your baby’s brain development.

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That’s about a pound a week in the
critical last half of pregnancy. Same for
women of normal weight, too.

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#2:The type of food you eat is as
important as the amount you eat

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Weird pregnancy cravings
Pickled okra
Baby talcum powder
Dust
Lemon juice on burritos
Crushed ice
Dirt
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Don’t eat that stuff.
The best pregnancy diet is
a bit boring. And familiar.
Eating a balanced meal, with
a heavy emphasis on fruits
and vegetables, is probably still the
best advice for pregnant women.
Non-vegetarians need a source of iron
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Researchers also recommend that
pregnant women eat at least 12 ounces
of fish per week. That provides you with
essential Omega-3s, which aid cellular
development.

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So, you need enough food, but not too
much, and you need the right types of
food, but not too little.

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Our next recommendation:
Get lots of pedicures.

That’s because
of the third baby
brain booster...

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#3: Avoid toxic stress

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Of course every pregnancy
is stressful
What I mean here is: Avoid toxic stress.
The kind where you feel out of control
of the situation.

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Toxic stress during pregnancy
may change the temperament of your child.
Infants become more irritable, less
consolable, when mom is continually
stressed.

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Stress can even shrink the
size of your baby’s brain.

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Certain types of stress can
lower your baby’s IQ an
average of 8 points.
That can be the difference
between “average IQ” and “bright
normal.”

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On top of all that, STRESS can inhibit
your baby’s future motor skills, ability to
concentrate, and stress-response system.

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What can you do about it?

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Take back control!
For optimal development of your
baby’s brain, exist in a less-stressed
environment, especially in the last few
months of pregnancy.
For some, that means gathering the
courage to exit a bad situation. For
others, that means general stress relief. 
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Check brainrules.net
for techniques proven
to reduce stress in
general.
A big one is...
the fourth way to
boost your baby’s brain
during pregnancy:

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#4: Exercise just the
right amount

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Why?
Fit women have to push less during labor!

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That painful phase of labor, where you
have to do a lot of pushing, lasts an
average of 27 minutes for fit women.
Physically unfit women have to push
for almost an hour, studies show—some
far longer.

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Because of that,
a fit mom has a better
chance of having a
smarter baby—one
best able to mobilize
his or her IQ—than an
unfit mom.

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Caution: Too much
strenuous exercise can
cause baby to overheat,
which can restrict blood
flow to your baby’s brain.

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What kind of exercise?

? ?
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 4
Four words:

moderate
regular
aerobic
exercise
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For most women, that means keeping
your heart rate below 70% of its
maximum rate, then slowing things
down as the due date approaches.

max rate: 220 beats /

min, minus your age
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Swimming is one of the best forms of
exercise in later stages in pregnancy. 
Among its many benefits (it’s gentler on
the joints, for one), the water dissipates
excess heat away from the womb.

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Darn it: 30 minutes or more of moderate
exercise per day. That’s what the
American College of Obstetricians
recommends.

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Did we mention those
pedicures?

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OK, here are all 4 things proven
to aid your baby’s brain in utero

#1 Gain just the right amount of weight

#2 Eat the right types of food
#3 Avoid toxic stress
#4 Exercise just the right amount

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Does it seem like a lot?
Well, remember that
humans have been
making babies for a
long, long, long time.

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But parents have a lot of control
over how their babies turn out,

so a little brain science never hurts.

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Brain Rules For Baby is here to help
you enjoy the amazing journey of
parenthood.

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You’re on your way to a
smart and happy baby!

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 Join the movement to raise
happy and smart babies at

www.brainrules.net

photo credits:
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Aidswarrio, Beniamin Pop, Clix, Diego medrano, Doriana_s, Julia Freeman-Woolpert,
Kriss Szkurlatowski, Laura-s, Leikinna, Mark Anthony, Michaela Kobyakov, Patryk
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Specjal, Rick Hawkins, Simona Balint, Svilen Milev