Bonding with your baby is one of the most important things a mother needs to do for her baby. Bonding is the strong feeling of love and compassion you feel for a baby. This can even begin in pregnancy.
Bonding is usually formed during attachment or early attachment. Early attachment is usually defined as when your newborn can be comforted, cradled, and has formed certain patterns or attachments with you. Bonding is similar to the early attachment. It usually develops during pregnancy and remains throughout a child’s life.
Bonding typically happens between parents and their newborns. However, it is also possible for other adult children or other partners to become attached to your newborn. In fact, many foster parents have been known to show early interest and bonding with the little guy or gal. Attachment is essentially the emotional relationship you develop with your newborn during early attachment.
For most mothers, bonding with their babies happens during delivery. Forcing a mom to deliver can often result in neglect of the baby, and this can lead to neglectful behavior from the child once their home. Many mothers will openly discuss the problems they experienced during labor and birth with others, thinking they’ll be helping with bonding. Unfortunately, some of these problems may cause harm to the child.
Bonding is important because it helps to keep the infant safe and secure. The bond between the parents and the infant is much deeper than just physical. The emotions involved are much more complex. Parents must work at building an emotional bond with their children from very early on. This is extremely important for healthy, happy development. Forcing a mother to deliver early will only create stress and possible long-term damage.
One way to help develop a strong attachment to your newborn is to hold your newborn close as you introduce him or her to your home. The best time for this is when the new parent is holding the baby. It’s okay for the new parent to stay with the newborn while his or her partner goes to meet the parents. It’s even fine if both parents stay to give the baby the loving attention he or she needs. The new parent can hold the baby as the new couple is playing or in different positions. Holding your newborn near your skin-to-skin contact will help you feel close to your new baby.
There are many other ways to bond with your new baby through breastfeeding and/or skin-to-skin contact. Some babies learn very quickly how to nurse, but many don’t. Bonding is extremely important to infants and toddlers. Therefore, it’s also important to continue the bonding after the birth of the infant.
A wonderful way to bond with your newborn is to provide the infant with a comforting touch, such as cuddling and skin-to-skin contact. The new parent doesn’t have to provide any special care for the infant, just normal loving care. Allow the infant to fall asleep and then turn over to see that baby has also fallen asleep. Once again, the bonding process starts the minute the baby is introduced to the mother’s nipple and other loving forms of attachment.
In addition to skin-to-skin interactions, another important way to bond with your newborn is to spend time with him in his extended world. At this point, the baby is spending more time in the nursery, in bed, or in play with other members of the family. This should include regular sleepovers and visits to the doctor’s office and the emergency room. While you are doing your normal activities with your baby, take some time to cuddle, stroke, and play with your child.
Bonding with your baby during the birth of his life is likely to be one of the most difficult for new parents to manage. Expectant parents face a range of emotions including fear, anxiety, worry, sadness, anger, and confusion. Many first-time parents are unsure what they should do to help their infant overcome these emotions. However, it is important that the parents set aside time to talk with each other. An important way to help alleviate some of the emotions during this transition is to make sure that both parents feel emotionally connected to their children.
The important thing to remember about bonding with your newborn is that it is an essential part of his development. It is also vital that you provide emotional support at the same time as physical support. If the new parents can work together to support each other, then there is a better chance for successful and healthy bonding. When you have an infant who is entering his toddler years, then you may find that he is spending more time in your arms than in his nursery. In fact, research shows that it may take him longer to establish a deep and intense attachment to his parents compared to infants who were more closely attached when they were younger.