We offer music therapy services for expecting mothers and their families through the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy. Licensed, Board-Certified members of the music therapy team use a music psychotherapy approach to complement medical goals of care for parents, caregivers, and newborns. Clinical services in the Maternity unit currently include:

• Bi-weekly groups for pregnant couples and new moms and dads—informing families about how music can be effectively used for bonding, transitions, motoric play, enhancement of crying/comfort sound, separations/sleep, feeding, enhancement of quiet-alert and sleep states
• Creating bonding experiences for parents whose babies are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); providing womb sounds (placenta rhythm and heart rhythms) as well as parent lullaby tapes for babies
• Daily individual music therapy services
• Pre-operative Anxiety: live music relaxation to prepare patients for surgery, and accompanying patient to the operating room

• Music Therapy for Maternity
  Funded by an NIH R01, this first-of-its-kind clinical trial led by Columbia University and Mount Sinai investigates whether a 10-week live, culturally congruent music intervention can reduce chronic stress and its biological effects among pregnant Black women, who face disproportionately high rates of preterm birth (Oh momma time). Loewy MPI