Bonding with Your Baby

It is vital for every parent, especially the mother, to have a personal connection with their baby. It is not only essential for the baby’s development but also a way of helping them learn to create deep relationships with other people. You are their first friend and how you relate with them will significantly affect how they will associate with other people even as they grow up. Research shows that how well we love, trust and get through conflict as adults depends primarily on how we were treated as babies. Ways you can bond with your baby to create that deep connection include:

BREASTFEEDING

This is the most natural way for a mother to bond with her baby. There is a connection made when the child is lying on your chest, hearing your heartbeat, mustering your voice and feeling your skin. You feeding them makes them feel that you, a person bigger than them, are their provider and they learn to trust you to not only feed them but also protect them.

If you are not breastfeeding your baby for any reason, look into their eyes when you are bottle-feeding them. Talk to them even and make some googly eyes to amuse them. They will remember your face and precisely who you are to them.

BE YOUR BABY’S BEST FRIEND

Spend a lot of time with them. Cases of children becoming more attached to their nannies than their moms are not all that uncommon. This is because it is the nanny they see when they wake up, it's she who spends the whole day holding them and playing with them, and it’s in the nanny’s arms that she falls asleep.

When you are not working, spend as much time as you can with your baby. Get on the floor and play with her. Bring her new toys and treats and breastfeed her.

GET TO KNOW YOUR BABY

Read your baby and get to understand them thoroughly. Look at her facial expressions and her reactions, and know what each one of them means. These will help you see what she does or does not like. It will be very helpful when you need to quickly change the fussy crying to a burst of giggles, effectively securing your peace of mind while also amusing the baby.

You should also listen to your baby cry and know what each call means. It helps know just what they want.

CLOSE THE SPACE BETWEEN YOU TWO

No, the baby does not need any space. Not until much later anyway. Take advantage of this and be as close as you can with her. Wear her on your shopping trips, let her sit on you as you feed her, attach her crib to your bed so that she can sleep beside you and even bath with her! All these moments will never get lost.

Other ways of bonding with your baby include looking into their eyes when doing anything with them, reading to them, playing with them and even singing to them.